NHL Network: David Pagnotta on the weekend when asked about Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews and his contract situation.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
EJ Hradek: “Where do negotiations stand right now with the Leafs and Auston Matthews? I heard there was some discussion. what’s the latest?”
Pagnotta: “Ya, well Brad Treliving and Shane Doan went out to Scottsdale (last) week and sat down with Auston Matthews and Judd Muldavor, his agent, to discuss just how the direction of this team is going to go.
My understanding is there weren’t actually any significant contract discussions that took place. This was more of a preliminary meeting. Let’s sit down, get to know each other and let’s map out a game plan.
They want to keep Auston Matthews. There’s no question about it. And Auston Matthews genuinely wants to stay in Toronto. But negotiations have not yet picked up despite the meeting among those four gentlemen.
Again, more of a let’s get to know each other. Let’s map out where the direction of this team is going to go.
It sounds like Sheldon Keefe will be sticking around as head coach. They have other holes on this team. William Nylander needs a deal. They want to reshape their defensive core and they’ve got a bottom six they’ve got to work on as well. They don’t have many pieces, I think just one player that slots into the bottom six, which is probably why they’ve kicked the tires on a guy like Scott Laughton out in Philadelphia.
But with respect to Matthews, status quo for the time being. We had a nice dinner, let’s see how the rest of this month plays out with the draft coming up, and then let’s get down to hard negotiations.
That July 1 where his no-movement kicks in, it’s not that big of a deal from both sides. They have a lot of leeway here and a lot of runway to get a deal done.”