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Report: Matthew Tkachuk informed Calgary Flames he’s not re-signing

By Chris Cerullo

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July 20, 2022 5:05 pm

The Calgary Flames are in shambles. The 2021-22 Pacific Division winners featured two players last season that scored above 100 points and it appears they will lose both of them in the same offseason.

First, Johnny Gaudreau turned down more money from them in favor of signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now, according to a report from The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford and Hailey Salvian, restricted free agent Matthew Tkachuk has informed the team that he will not be re-signing with them and a trade looks imminent.

Wow.

This news comes a couple of days after Calgary filed for club-elected arbitration in regards to Tkachuk’s contract. An arbitration hearing for that case is expected to be held sometime between July 27 and August 11. He’d receive a one-year deal if that hearing were to happen. However, that appears to just be a matter of formality as the team likely plans to use that time to find a suitable trade for the 24-year-old left wing.

The Athletic writers report that Tkachuk has given Calgary a list of teams that he would sign with long-term. Those teams include the St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and Dallas Stars. Outside of his hometown Blues, the rest of those teams are located in states with no income tax though there is some dispute on whether that list is fully accurate or not.

The best case scenario for the Flames at this point is that they’ll find a sign-and-trade suitor among those teams as that will likely net them the most value. A fenced-in market of just a handful of teams does not exactly give them the most room to maximize that value though and a 24-year-old coming off a 42-goal, 104-point season has a lot of value.

In any case, this is an absolute disaster for a Flames team that looked like they had all the capabilities to be a perennial contender for the near future. The team also still has decisions to make on two other key restricted free agents in forward Andrew Mangiapane and defenseman Oliver Kylington.

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