Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
The Calgary Flames have locked in their top offensive player for the foreseeable future.
In the dwindling hours of Thursday evening, the Flames put the finishing touches on the club’s most important piece of business in years, reportedly agreeing to terms with forward Jonathan Huberdeau on a massive eight-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $10.5 million.
The details of the deal, which now ties Huberdeau to Calgary through the 2029-30 season, such as its salary structure and the inclusion of any trade protection have yet to be reported.
Well, that didn’t take long.
After coming over as the central piece of the Matthew Tkachuk trade, Huberdeau was not expected to re-sign with the Flames so soon as free agency waited only one year away. But the former Panthers playmaker clearly felt confident enough in the Flames’ direction as an organization to go all-in, and is now locked in for what will likely be the rest of his career at a massive price.
It’s hard to overstate how important this is for the future of the Flames.
Huberdeau is a no-doubt top-five forward in the NHL. The 29-year-old is fresh off a 30-goal, 85-assist, 115-point campaign in which he set a league record for helpers in a single season by a left winger and also logged nearly 20 minutes of ice time per night for the runaway President’s Trophy winner.
Huberdeau gives his new team arguably the best playmaker in the entire league, someone who completely opens up the offensive zone for Calgary’s still-dangerous forward corps while assuming the role of power-play quarterback — which he did last season en route to helping give the Panthers the league’s top man-advantage.
A $10.5 million price tag is pretty expensive for a player heading into his 30s. But Huberdeau will likely provide a positive return on Calgary’s investment for the bulk of the deal, starting with next season.
What a wild summer.
