Calgary Flames make choice on Matthew Tkachuk's, which will make him a UFA next year

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Josh tupper
July 18, 2022 (7:14 PM)

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The Calgary Flames started off the off-season by losing their best player, Johnny Gaudreau. Now they're doing everything in their power to retain Matthew Tkachuk. Tkachuk is far and away the Flames best player and trying to avoid a rebuild means signing him to a contract.

But so far Tkachuk has been resistant to sign a deal and now the Flames are resorting to a rarely used Team Elected Arbitration.

The Flames have filed for club-elected salary arbitration with Matthew Tkachuk. This provides us the opportunity to continue to work with his representatives towards a contractual resolution while removing the possibility of an offer sheet.

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So what does this mean?

By opting for team elected arbitration this prevents Tkachuk from signing an offer sheet with another NHL Team. This gives the Flames some exclusive negotiation time. The only problem though is this arbitration decision will walk Tkachuk directly to free agency.

The biggest problem for the Flames is that no matter what the arbitrator awards, the Flames will not be able to walk away from the deal. So if Tkachuk is deemed to be entitled to a 1 year deal valued at $12,000,000 that will be Tkachuk's final deal.

Both the Flames and Tkachuk can agree to a deal up until the hearing with the arbitrator begins, but it appears the two parties are headed for another nasty divorce.