Matthew Tkachuk & Johnny Gaudreau Signing Watch Thread

[tvp2003]

Tkachuk and Gaudreau are both on pace to have career years and they're doing it on a line together. So unless there is a strong desire to play elsewhere for other reasons, I have to think both would benefit from each other staying, and hopefully their respective contract asks reflect this.

Might be wishful thinking to suggest it's something they've discussed between them personally, but one can only hope...

[Sylvanfan]

I get the trepidation around paying out huge money. But if the team doesn't pay these two, who are they going to pay?

It's not like there are any other star young players who are going to need to be paid more than these two in the Pipeline or current roster. Whatever prospects the team would really need to step up huge to earn a bigger salary which isn't such a bad thing. If they suck hard next year, it's still 4 years out until you worry about how you pay the franchise star you just drafted top 3.

Next year might be a bit tight, but I'll be disappointed if they can't get both these guys signed long term. Sutter still has another year on his contract after this...so they're not going to tank and rebuild. So if they're not doing that, than pay these guys.

[activeStick]

Yup those are my thoughts as well. Who would we be saving the money to instead use it on? The Flames have two players they drafted who have had a chance to play in Calgary and have both said they love playing in Calgary. Two stars. Going to have a tough time convincing other players who have never played here before to sign here worthy of that money.

[Strange Brew]

If this team could add another top Center you could see them being split up. But I'm not holding my breath on that.

[djsFlames]

Tkachuk 5 x 9.125MM (gets to go to UFA before 30 for retirement contract)
Gaudreau 8 x 9.5MM front loaded contract
Let the replacement level vets walk and use the farm next season.
Take advantage of Monahan's resurgence (if it continues) and deal him at the draft.

[bigrangy]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Yup those are my thoughts as well. Who would we be saving the money to instead use it on? The Flames have two players they drafted who have had a chance to play in Calgary and have both said they love playing in Calgary. Two stars. Going to have a tough time convincing other players who have never played here before to sign here worthy of that money.

Yeah it’d be like in the late 2000s when Buffalo lost Briere and Drury in the same summer to FA. Then they were forced to accept the ridiculous Vanek offersheet just save face. Buffalo has been a disaster ever since.

Need to get these two locked in.

[Jason14h]

For their price combined we could get AT LEAST four James Neals in UFA. Maybe some more 6th D! This team is so top heavy it needs more depth and loosing these two would finally allow us the cap flexibility to field 4 lines of 3rd liners !

[FlamesAddiction]

I am going bold here, and predict that Tkachuk signs a long term contract extension before Johnny and is named captain at the start of next season.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Tkachuk 5 x 9.125MM (gets to go to UFA before 30 for retirement contract)
Gaudreau 8 x 9.5MM front loaded contract
Let the replacement level vets walk and use the farm next season.
Take advantage of Monahan's resurgence (if it continues) and deal him at the draft.

Actually I can see this happening with Tkachuk. He might be ideally looking for one more big contract after this one.

9Mx5Y is a real possibility. To facilitate that, because salary seems to be important to the Tkachuk family negotiating style, my guess would be that Johnny signs for 9M as well, but goes the full 8Y.

That would be good money management by Tre.

[The Cobra]

The longer this goes on, the bigger the number becomes.

They are playing insane hockey right now.

The $9M number seems like a pipe dream now.

[SuperMatt18]

I do wonder if you could convince Tkachuk to take like a three year deal.

I don’t see him doing 8 years, and it would be better than 1 year and right to UFA for the Flames.

He would Expire at 28 years old and then go for a big pay day once the cap goes up again post COVID.

3x$9.5 for Tkachuk and 8x $9.5M for Johnny

[blender]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

The longer this goes on, the bigger the number becomes.

They are playing insane hockey right now.

The $9M number seems like a pipe dream now.

I don't believe that the number is climbing with every great performance Johnny turns in. He is a known quantity and has been for years. Fans ride the highs and lows, but professional talent evaluators are far more consistent.
Don't get me wrong, he's getting paid for sure, but teams prepared to make 80 million dollar commitments aren't adjusting their bottom lines game by game. It just doesn't work that way.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

The longer this goes on, the bigger the number becomes.

They are playing insane hockey right now.

The $9M number seems like a pipe dream now.

Flames probably could’ve had Johnny at that price this past offseason. I was actually hoping Treliving would extend Johnny and Chucky in the summer before this season because I knew an entire season of them together was only going to increase their value. You could see that they were going to be a dominant duo after the final 16 games they had last season. Now it’s too late and Treliving will just have to ante up.

I know one thing, I’d rather have a Johnny or a Chucky over 2 Blake Coleman’s or 2 Troy Brouwers. So hopefully they re-sign or we might as well just tear it down and rebuild.

[flylock shox]

Whether or not Tkachuk is re-signed, I really hope the Flames can find a way to keep Johnny.



He reminds a bit of Kipper in that, after a few years of watching him, you just sort of get used to him being really good. Then, when he leaves, you realize just how significant a hole is left behind.



Tkachuk is a great player in his own right, but Johnny is one of those talents that makes games a pleasure to watch.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Whether or not Tkachuk is re-signed, I really hope the Flames can find a way to keep Johnny.



He reminds a bit of Kipper in that, after a few years of watching him, you just sort of get used to him being really good. Then, when he leaves, you realize just how significant a hole is left behind.



Tkachuk is a great player in his own right, but Johnny is one of those talents that makes games a pleasure to watch.

Yeah I definitely think there was a lot of that happening on CP. I think I posted about 500 times how under-appreciated Johnny was around here, I was pretty much just copying and pasting responses at that point. think some of the on ice stats with and without him probably tells the story at this point.

I think he and Tkachuk have a serious thing going on. I don’t know how comfortable I’d feel losing the top line at all. Johnny covers deficiencies in Tkachuk and vice versa, that’s what makes them such a great combo.

I’d be ok spending less in certain areas of the team as long as the top line stay together. They make this team tick. They basically set up the next line after them for success by always leaving them in a good position and then it becomes a domino effect.

[FBI]

Please make this happen Tre... I'm drooling at Johnny and Chucky playing this good together for the next 8 years..

[Icantwhisper]

If 19 signs I think it’ll be for 6 years, him and his brother will be UFA at same time

[BLOCKEDCAT]

I was completely convinced Chucky was leaving because I saw a conclusion where the Tkachuk brothers moved to St. Louis as some coup to carry on the Tkachuk legacy there. But with Brady signing that monster contract in Ottawa (which surprised the hell out of me), I had hope.

Sign these guys. I'll admit I don't know the ins and outs of the current and next years cap situation. Can they realistically sign both at 10 per (seems like a realistic value, +/- based on term) without giving up significant assets?

If I understand it correctly, Lucic's cap hit for 2022-2023 is 5.2M. But if the Flames bought that out (according to Puckpedia), its $333K a year for two years? Or is this some bizarre number because of Lucic's bonus-laden contract?

Wouldn't that create a ton of space for Chucky and Johnny? Doesn't solve the issue of Eat Bread but that's another conversation.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by BLOCKEDCAT

I was completely convinced Chucky was leaving because I saw a conclusion where the Tkachuk brothers moved to St. Louis as some coup to carry on the Tkachuk legacy there. But with Brady signing that monster contract in Ottawa (which surprised the hell out of me), I had hope.

I also think that Brady signing a long term deal is encouraging as well. Not that they are the same people, obviously one signing long term in a smaller Canadian market doesn't mean the other will, but they could both have the same mind set having been raised together. Both of these guys are extremely professional and I think if they are treated right and paid their worth, they will want to see things through. Just my gut.

Matthew's recent comments about Calgary and the Flames were also very encouraging. He seemed very sincere about his love for the city and the team. Maybe he met a Calgary girl or something, but he seems a lot happier these days.

[Duffalufagus]

Well, the odds of keeping both is remote imo. Even one of them. Both will easily fetch 10m plus on the FA market. At least we should know before the trade deadline. Because only a fool of a GM would let it go longer than that.