This is the only major piece of business the Flames have to worry about over the next year as far as contracts. From my perspective Backlund is the most important forward on the team and he needs to be re-signed.
Only two pieces of news I've seen so far:
Quote:
July 23rd
https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2017...-contract.html
Fan 960:
Treliving - “There’s no time pressure at this point right now. But we think Mikael is a really good player, an important player here, and we’d like to see if there’s a way to get something done and we’ll explore that.”
|
Quote:
August 31st
http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/08/31...zon-for-flames
Eric Francis article :
Treliving - "We’ve got lots of time and he’s a good player and a good man,” said Treliving, who has had talks with Backlund’s agent, J.P. Barry. “We’ll see where that goes.”
Quite possibly nowhere, to be frank, as the 28-year-old Swedish centre may very well have priced himself out of Calgary with his breakout, 22-goal, 31-assist season.
Backlund is a two-way luxury the Flames will be lucky to keep beyond this season.
|
Assuming even a modest escalator, the Flames will have about 20 mil in cap room next summer with Backlund really the only notable piece unsigned for 2018-19. Granted, they have Tkachuk, Ferland and Bennett (not to mention no goalie) to renew for 2019-20 so will need to exercise some long term planning... at this point they will probably have about 32 million for those four, a goalie and a handful of depth players (which seems like more than enough unless Ferland or Bennett become all-stars).
It would be almost criminal not to re-sign him in my opinion and you can bet will start to become a distraction as the trade deadline approaches and the eastern media start salivating over every UFA. Even if he doesn't fit in salary wise a year later, this is a player that would bring a huge trade return that you simply can not afford to let walk away for nothing. That said Treliving has demonstrated a history of leaving contract negotiations late and squeezing out every dollar he can.