The Calgary Flames weren’t big players during draft weekend or July 1st in free agency, which bucks the trend from previous years.
Brad Treliving, GM of the Flames since the Spring of 2014, has made a big offseason move in each of his years at the helm of the Flames. This year’s relative quietness isn’t due to a lack of trying though. He was a hair away from trading Michael Frolik for Jason Zucker at the trade deadline, and just had a big trade centered around TJ Brodie and Nazem Kadri with the Toronto Maple Leafs fall through because Kadri refused to waive his no-trade clause – at least that’s what we think.
A trade involving Brodie and/or Frolik is still probably coming though, primarily because of the Flames’ cap crunch and a long list of RFAs left to sign. Among them is, of course, Matthew Tkachuk, and the two sides are undoubtedly working hard to get a deal done as soon as possible. All signs point to his negotiation taking a bit of time, and from experience with Johnny Gaudreau we know the Tkachuk deal could go as late as into training camp, but there are other restricted free agents that can’t wait that long.
A look at the Calgary Flames Arbitration Picture
This season, there are Outside of Tkachuk, there are four RFAs who are eligible for, and filed for arbitration. The official arbitration schedule has been released by the NHLPA.
Brad Treliving has his hands full this offseason with plenty of contracts to negotiate, but he’s no stranger to dealing with arbitration eligible players. Over his time as GM, he’s settled 10 arbitration eligible cases, with only two actually making it to the arbitration hearing phase.
To date, here is Treliving’s RFA arbitration history. We’ll be updating the list as the cases get settled this summer.
2014 Arbitration Cases
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 96 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 92 | 160 | 42 | 13:59 |
| Previous Season | 80 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 80 | 129 | 30 | 14:16 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 2 years | $2.55M | $1.275M | Pre-arbitration | $650k |
2015 Arbitration Cases
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 199 | 22 | 31 | 53 | 221 | 505 | 201 | 12:17 |
| Previous Season | 78 | 16 | 18 | 34 | 104 | 264 | 82 | 14:01 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 3 years | $6.6M | $2.2M | Post-arbitration | $775k |
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 138 | 17 | 31 | 48 | 127 | 211 | 39 | 13:28 |
| Previous Season | 57 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 62 | 101 | 24 | 14:28 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 1 year | $900k | $900k | Pre-arbitration | $600k |
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 60 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 89 | 60 | 30 | 14:30 |
| Previous Season | 60 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 89 | 60 | 30 | 14:30 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 1 year | $975k | $975k | Pre-arbitration | $925k |
2016 Arbitration Cases
None
2017 Arbitration Cases
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 173 | 21 | 27 | 48 | 262 | 427 | 59 | 11:50 |
| Previous Season | 76 | 15 | 10 | 35 | 106 | 149 | 26 | 11:34 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 2 years | $3.5M | $1.75M | Pre-arbitration | $900k |
2018
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 99 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 262 | 260 | 63 | 10:58 |
| Previous Season | 59 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 68 | 154 | 32 | 11:32 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 1 year | $850k | $850k | Pre-arbitration | $650k |
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 73 | 17 | 8 | 25 | 118 | 36 | 51 | 13:19 |
| Previous Season | 72 | 17 | 8 | 25 | 118 | 35 | 51 | 13:21 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 2 years | $3.35M | $1.675M | Pre-arbitration | $925k |
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 101 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 101 | 61 | 65 | 13:16 |
| Previous Season | 71 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 73 | 45 | 49 | 12:59 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 1 year | $900k | $900k | Post-arbitration | $650k |
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 374 | 64 | 124 | 188 | 720 | 466 | 176 | 17:09 |
| Previous Season | 81 | 16 | 28 | 44 | 153 | 98 | 41 | 17:54 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 6 years | $29.1M | $4.85M | Pre-arbitration | $2.7M |
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | GS | Record | GAA | SV% | SHO | MIN | QS |
| Career | 22 | 16 | 8-6-3 | 2.92 | 0.904 | 0 | 1028 | 10 |
| Previous Season | 21 | 16 | 8-6-3 | 2.92 | 0.904 | 0 | 1008 | 10 |
Resulting Contract
| Term | Total Value | AAV | Signing Timeline | Previous Salary |
| 1 year | $800k | $800k | Pre-arbitration | $725k |
Track Record
As we can see from the ten cases above, Treliving has only had two of those players actually reach arbitration: Bouma and Kulak. The rest were settled before the arbitration hearing took place, which speaks to Treliving’s ability to handle RFAs. Of course interestingly enough, both of those players that made it to arbitration are no longer with the team.
2019 Arbitration Cases
As previously mentioned, there are four players that are currently scheduled for an arbitration hearing at this point in time.
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 312 | 55 | 61 | 116 | 531 | 498 | 139 | 14:29 |
| Previous Season | 71 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 115 | 121 | 27 | 13:17 |
Resulting Contract
TBD. Arbitration hearing date: July 27, 2019.
Previous Salary: $1.95M
David Rittich
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | GS | Record | GAA | SV% | SHO | MIN | QS |
| Career | 67 | 58 | 35-15-8 | 2.70 | 0.909 | 1 | 3531 | 36 |
| Previous Season | 42 | 42 | 27-9-5 | 2.61 | 0.911 | 1 | 2503 | 26 |
Resulting Contract
TBD. Arbitration hearing date: July 29, 2019.
Previous Salary: $800k
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 23 | 1 | 6:31 |
| Previous Season | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6:59 |
Resulting Contract
TBD. Arbitration hearing date: August 1, 2019.
Previous Salary: $710k
Career stats to arbitration date
| Period | GP | G | A | PTS | SH | HT | BK | ATOI |
| Career | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 12:11 |
| Previous Season | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11:49 |
Resulting Contract
TBD. Arbitration hearing date: August 4, 2019.
Previous Salary: $650k
Looking ahead
If history is any indication, it would be safe to assume that there is a strong chance these cases don’t make it to their hearings. Tkachuk’s contract provides an interesting layer of drama this year, but the team would most likely want to get all of these contracts signed as soon as possible.
Valiev and Lomberg will be easy to get signed, but Bennett and Rittich could pose much more interesting negotiations. Treliving’s history speaks for itself, which should provide confidence for the upcoming negotiations. One way or another, all five players will be under contract after the August long weekend. The only question will be for how much and how long?
What do you think about the upcoming arbitration hearings? Let us know in the comments below.
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