Quote:
Originally Posted by bax
I think it's likely that everyone involved realized the cap wasn't available this year to make that kind of deal. So they signed a deal that allows the Flames some flexibility as in there is no pressure to trade anyone off the roster and they can go back to the drawing board in 2 years and ink a big 5-8 year deal.
Maybe a bit of a stretch, but I bet the Flames wanted 6.75 over 3 years, but ended up giving the extra 250k as a sign on good faith. Let's meet in 2 years and get a long term deal done before arbitration hits.
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Not likely any of this is true. Tkachuk is grinding for the best he can get and it will be that way next time as well. It was either give me the big dollars for a long contract or I'll take the smaller contract and get to FA as soon as possible (like every other star RFA).
There's no fairytale stuff happening here where the Flames tacked on extra money as show of faith to negotiate a second contract later. They won't meet in two years, Tkachuk will meet in the summer after the third year, listen to what Brad has to say, likely take the qualifying offer of $9mil and then the following summer listen to the whole league for the max contract he can get.
That's his benefit to signing this contract at lower dollars - becoming a UFA really soon. He's not giving up his benefit because the Flames gave him $250k extra, lol.