Auston Matthews' absurd actual salary for 2024-25 revealed

The Toronto Maple Leafs made Auston Matthews the highest paid player in the NHL last summer, but his actual salary for the 2024-25 season is much higher than expected.

Last August, Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs came to terms on a 4-year extension worth a staggering $13.25M per season, a raise of around $1.6M per season over his cap hit last season, making him the highest paid player in the NHL.

Matthews reached new heights in 2023-24, producing a personal best 69 goals and 107 points in 81 games. Even if his contract had begun last season, he'd be worth every penny.

This week, CapFriendly released a list of the highest paid players in the NHL by cap hit for the 2024-25 campaign. While we know Matthews is #1 on the list, there are some massive, massive deals out there beyond Toronto.

CapFriendly also revealed the top paid players for the 2024-25 season by actual salary. Surprisingly, when looking at the actual salary, Matthews isn't the only player making $13M or more next season.

While Matthews' $16.7M will be the highest actual salary next season, Rasmus Dahlin, David Pastrnak, William Nylander, Elias Pettersson and Nathan MacKinnon are all making $13M or more next season in actual salary as well.

Obviously, with the way Matthews can score, I don't think there's a number where he isn't providing the Leafs with a good return on their investment. Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in the NHL and Matthews seems to do it with ease.

As the saying goes, you earn your paycheck during the regular season, but you make your name in the playoffs.

Prior to this past season, we had not seen a 69-goal scorer since Mario Lemieux. Given the fact that Matthews is doing this in the current hockey era, I don't think anyone can say he isn't earning his paycheck. The only question left now is, can Matthews start scoring like this when it matters, and make a name for himself in the postseason?

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