The Maple Leafs have signed centre Auston Matthews to a five-year contract extension with an average annual value of $11.63-million.

The 21-year-old former first overall 2016 draft pick was making the maximum $925,000-a-year under his three-year- rookie deal.

Matthews has 97 goals, 81 assists in 182 regular season games.   

”We understand the cap restraints that we have, and that the league and every single team has.  We went from everything from three (years) to eight, and we kind of settled on five and I think both sides are obviously happy,” said Matthews.

Like team scoring leader Mitch Marner, Matthews was eligible to become a restricted free agent July 1. 

In addition, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson are eligible to become restricted free agents while Jake Gardiner is headed toward unrestricted free agency.