There’s a lot of hockey left to be played this season, but we already know one thing for sure as far as the Calgary Flames are concerned: Matthew Tkachuk has a massive payday coming his way.
The 21-year-old winger is having the best season of his young career, having already blown away last year’s point total with 23 goals and 54 points through 47 games so far, and is a major reason why the club sits atop the Western Conference.
Tkachuk is one of several big-name pending RFAs making their respective GMs nervous (Maple Leafs Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine, and Vancouver’s Brock Boeser are also among them). All eyes were on Toronto this past fall during the months-long stalemate between forward William Nylander and the club, which set another standard in terms of what this next group of RFAs will earn — and how long they may take before they sign on the dotted line.
During an appearance on Prime Time Sports on Tuesday, Flames GM Brad Treliving kept it short and sweet when talking about upcoming negotiations with Tkachuk:
“He’s a real good player, he’s having a good year. We’ll get him signed. I don’t know when that’s going to be,” he said.
When you look at Calgary’s current list of cap hits, Treliving has done an impressive job of signing his young stars to affordable deals. Leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau and captain Mark Giordano have the highest cap hits at $6.75 million, with Sean Monahan ($6.375 million) not far behind. Based on the current market and what his RFA peers have hauled in — $6.96 million annually for Nylander, for starters — Tkachuk looks poised to be the highest-paid player in Calgary.
“The focus for all of us right now is the season and the 30-some odd games we have left,” Treliving continued. “But we’ll work away at that quietly and I can tell you we’ll let you know as soon as it’s done, whenever that is.”
Treliving also discussed the Flames’ recent success, the role of the club’s young veterans, and the much talked about goaltending situation. Listen to the full interview here:
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