ICYMI: Tkachuk signs $21 million contract

In case you missed the news earlier today, the Calgary Flames signed restricted free agent Matthew Tkachuck to a three year contract with $21 million. Tkachuck’s new deal comes with a $7 million cap hit.

Check it out:

“I want to win in Calgary,” said Tkachuk at the press conference to announce his signing. 

“We could have argued over the long-term, short-term…. We knew this was going to work for both of us. I’m very happy with how it ended and I’m excited to get on the ice tomorrow.”

“I love it here,” he said. “It’s an exciting time to be a Calgary Flame.”

Despite negotiations dragging into training camp and the preseason, Flames general manager Brad Treliving maintains that things never got contentious between the two sides.

“This wasn’t a negotiation that was profanity-laced 24/7,” Treliving joked. “Everyone thinks you start by arm-wrestling over numbers. But Matthew said, ‘How do we win?’

“His goal was, ‘How do we keep this group, how do we add to this group, and how do we win with this group?’

“Matthew wants to be here. He wants to play his career here. He wants to sign here as long as he can sign here. That was our goal, our mission, at the beginning.

“We spent days, hours and months talking about long-term. But that’s how we get to the term that we got to.”

Tkachuk is coming off an impressive campaign in which he posted career highs across the board, including 34 goals and 77 points.