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Flames sign RFA Tkachuk to three-year, $21 million deal

Los Angeles Kings v Calgary Flames

CALGARY, AB - MARCH 25: Matthew Tkachuk #19 of the Calgary Flames skates against the Los Angeles Kings during an NHL game on March 25, 2019 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)

NHLI via Getty Images

Another restricted free agent has agreed to terms on a new contract with his team. Just days after the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to sign Brayden Point to a three-year contract, the Calgary Flames also inked Matthew Tkachuk to a contract of the same length.

Point got $6.75 million per year, while Tkachuk’s deal comes with have a cap hit of $7 million per year. Yes, Tkachuk is earning more money on the books than Point is, but the tax situation in Florida compared to Calgary is very different. In reality, Point will be netting more money.

Tkachuk’s $7 million cap hit immediately makes him the highest paid player on the Flames roster ahead of Johnny Gaudreau, who has three years left on a deal that carries a $6.75 million AAV. In the final year of his new deal, Tkachuk will earn $9 million, which means the Flames would have to give him a qualifying offer of $9 million, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

The 21-year-old is coming off a season in which he scored 34 goals and 77 points in 80 games.

The Flames went into today with $6.341 million in salary cap space, per Cap Friendly, so they’ll need to make a simple roster move in order to get back under the salary cap. Calgary now has 14 forwards under contract, which means that sending one down to the minors will get them under the $81.5 million cap ceiling.

MORE:
ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker
Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.