Rock Place Franchise Tag On Mark Matthews

Future NLL Hall of Famer Agrees To 2-Year Franchise Player Deal

Oakville, ON – Toronto Rock Owner, President, and GM Jamie Dawick announced today that he has placed the franchise tag on Mark Matthews and has signed the superstar forward to a two-year deal.  This was the first time the organization has handed out the franchise tag since 2013 when the Rock signed all-time Rock legend Colin Doyle.

The franchise tag in most cases is designated to a pending unrestricted free agent, under the age of 34 on January 1^st of the current calendar year, in order to keep them off the open market.  Players 34 and older have the right to reject the franchise tag and become an unrestricted free agent.  Matthews, who was under the age of 34 on January 1, 2024, signed a 2-year franchise player agreement taking him past his true unrestricted free agent season, showing that Toronto is where wanted to be.

The Mailman prospered in his first year in Toronto and enjoyed a tremendously productive season at home. Matthews is focused on helping this team get over the hump and build upon what they started during the 2023-2024 campaign.

The 34-year-old from Oshawa, ON came to the Rock from Saskatchewan in a massive offseason trade in the summer of 2023, that sent Zach Manns, Adam Jay, and the Rock’s first round pick (12^th overall) in the 2023 NLL Draft out West. This deal certainty paid off for the Rock, as the Mailman consistently delivered on a nightly basis.  Mark led the team in points with 98, assists with 67, and scored 31 goals.  This was the 9^th time in his career that Matthews netted 30 or more goals in a season.  In a 16-11 March road win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, Mark scored a goal and dished out 8 assists to become the 15^th player in NLL history to hit 1,000 career points.

On Monday, the NLL announced a change to the Free Agency timeline:

The National Lacrosse League announced today it is moving the start of free agency from Thursday, August 1 to Thursday, August 29. As means of additional clarity surrounding this calendar shift and its accompanying considerations: (1) The deadline for Qualifying Offers (QO & QO+) and Franchise Player designations shall remain July 31; (2) Beginning August 1, Clubs may not contact or communicate with RFA’s or UFA’s, and trades shall not be permitted; (3) Clubs may sign their own players who are ineligible for free agency (including those who received a QO+); (4) The Free Agency period shall begin August 29 at 12:00 AM ET and the resumption of permitted trades shall also be August 29 at 12:00 AM ET.

For more information on 2024-25 Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 416-596-3075, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.