Flames reach a settlement with goaltender David Rittich.

The Calgary Flames have just concluded a very important piece of business.

According to a breaking news report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman, it appears that the Flames and goaltender David Rittich have been able to come to an agreement. The two sides were currently embroiled in an arbitration hearing however Friedman is reporting that the two sides reached a settlement here, rather than an award being issued by the arbitrator in this case. 

The new deal will see Rittich earn a total of $5.5 million on his contract over the course of a two year term, and that works out to an average annual value and salary cap hit of $2.75 million per season. Interestingly enough that will be the exact same amount that former Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot will make in the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season after signing a new deal with the Flames over the course of the free agency period this summer. Keeping that in mind it looks like the Flames will have something of a goaltending controversy on their hands very early, with this truly looking like a situation where both men will have to battle for the starting job. 

Rittich is coming off of what was unquestionably his best season in the National Hockey League, a season that saw him oust veteran Mike Smith from the role as Calgary's number one goaltender over the course of the 2018 - 2019 NHL regular season. In that season Rittich would go on to appear in 45 regular season games for the Flames, recording a 2.61 goals against average and a .911 save percentage over that stretch of play. Those are solid numbers to be sure but they are not great, and that becomes even more true when you factor in just how good of a defense Rittich was playing in front of last season. 

The 26 year old goaltender will have a new deal in hand when he enters the upcoming NHL season but he will still have a lot to prove if he wants to be considered among the NHL's elite goaltenders. The Flames of course know this and that likely played a large role in their decision to bring in Cam Talbot on a short term deal over the summer.