RFA Tkachuk makes bold statement about offer sheet!

While it seems like most hockey fans are worried about Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner getting an offer sheet from a rival club, it seems like another star player has been forgotten. 

Calgary Flames’ Matthew Tkachuk is still looking for an extension, but it will be quite the challenge for GM Brad Treliving to get a deal done and have money left over for important upgrades. The team has six restricted free agents to re-sign, including Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and David Rittich and team insider Darren Haynes of The Athletic estimates the cost could push the Flames’ salary-cap payroll to $87 million.

The one thing that might be encouraging for Flames fans to hear is that talks between Tkachuk and the Flames seem to be progressing well. And on Thursday, the Hockey Writers revealed that Tkachuk made a bold statement to assistant GM Craig Conroy on a pending offer sheet that could be coming his way. 

“Matthew has always said he wants to be back. It’s not like anything is negative here. Both sides would like to get this done as quick as possible.”

As you know, the Montreal Canadiens pulled a shocking move on Monday, signing Carolina Hurricanes restricted free-agent forward Sebastian Aho to a five-year, $42.27-million offer sheet. It was the first time since 2013 that an offer sheet had been signed. A day later, Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon revealed his club will match the offer sheet. 

Tkachuk doesn’t want to be stuck in the middle of such a scenario… 

This is quite encouraging news for the Flames as we haven’t gotten much development on other RFA negotiations around the league. It seems as though Tkachuk’s saga is closer to the end.