Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
Thank you. So the article is wrong about the 5 years. Presumably Tkachuk wanted a 4 year (or perhaps 3 year) term. Flames presumably wanted at least 5 years to cover off 1 UFA year at least.
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Tkachuk would've wanted 4, yes, but it would been a non-start from Calgary's perspective.
5 years walks Tkachuk to free agency, but the timeline fits in better with Calgary's existing contract situation and buys a year of free agency.
Tkachuk probably also wanted 5 years because it forces the team to pay up significantly for that single UFA year. That's what makes Marner's deal so expensive, buying the UFA years. Same with Matthews. It's why all these prominent RFAs are going less than the term that would take them to Free Agency, it keeps the overall AAV down for the team but gives the player larger potential earning power in future contracts.
Tkachuk is going to be poised to take advantage of either a larger cap in 3 years, or significantly less escrow on a much larger contract value.
It's an excellent deal for him and I think illustrates that the Flames had basically no options to make the numbers work on a deal longer than 3 years.