Teams interested in the services of Matthew Tkachuk will not be able to submit a hostile offer to the forward since the Calgary Flames have completed the necessary documents to take their case to a referee on Monday.
The 24-year-old athlete, Alberta’s sixth overall pick in 2016, has just completed a three-year contract that earned him $7 million per season, now a restricted free agent.
By doing so, the Flames remove any risk of seeing another National League team make an attractive offer to their star player, in addition to offering themselves the chance to reach an agreement with him before deciding before a referee. .
Retaining Tkachuk should prove costly, however, as he just wrapped up his career-best campaign, producing 104 points in 82 games, topping the average of one point per game for the first time in his career. young career.
In addition to Tkachuk, the Flames must also manage the file of Andrew Mangiapane, also a restricted free agent, they who recently lost the services of Johnny Gaudreau, who preferred to join the ranks of the Columbus Blue Jackets during the opening of the free agent market, July 13.
If Tkachuk is the only one to have seen his team fill out the paperwork to go to a referee in order to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion, 24 other skaters have filled out the paperwork for the same purpose, including Mangiapane.
Other notable players to use this method include forwards Jesper Bratt (New Jersey Devils), Kailer Yamamoto (Edmonton Oilers) and Kasperi Kapanen (Pittsburgh Penguins).