Quoting: CD282
Draisaitl got a similar bonus to Matthews this summer, Nurse gets a $12M salary this year.
Front loading is nothing new, lots of teams do it. It just makes the contract cheaper on the back end. For instance, Matthews and Tavares are earning just $7.95M each this season while Marner and Rielly are making $8M each. That's significantly less than their combined cap hits.
The other part of the equation that you're missing is that Leafs players do this to decrease their tax burden, not simply because MLSE can afford it. If Matthews played in a so-called tax-free state he wouldn't need to structure his contract in such a manner, as it would make very little difference to his final take home pay. The tax issue in Ontario is real.
The difference here, TO can do it with anyone that wants it. And the taxes in Ontario are the same as Alberta. Income tax is the same across Canada. This is a known fact. The only difference is Alberta doesn't have HST. PST and GST are seperate and the PST is lower in Alberta than Ontario. That is all about purchasing things. Which doesn't make any difference. This is just overblown nonsense. TO has more money than Edmonton will ever have, they have more money than any team has. That results in major resources for the players, support staff, equipment, sports science departments, trainers, skills trainers etc etc. TO out spends everyone. Which makes up the difference between taxes.
As I have mentioned this is just the media saying stuff to get bitter fickle fans who hate the Leafs fired up. You guys dream of seeing the Leafs burn more than you dream of winning. It's hilarious