Report: Calgary Flames sign Jonathan Huberdeau to eight-year extension with $10.5 million cap hit

The Calgary Flames have signed winger and big offseason addition Jonathan Huberdeau to an eight-year contract with a $10.5 million cap hit.

Huberdeau joined the Flames earlier in the offseason along with MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a first round pick from the Florida Panthers in exchange for for Matthew Tkachuk. Huberdeau is in the final year of a six year contract this season with a $5.9 million cap hit, and was going to be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

The full contract breakdown sees $61.5 million in signing bonuses, with a no-move clause for all eight years and a modified 12-team no-trade clause for the last two years.

Huberdeau is coming off a career year, with 30 goals, 85 assists, and 115 points in 80 games in 2021-22, all career highs for him. He finished the season tied for second in points with former Flame Johnny Gaudreau, and first in assists, besting Connor McDavid by six. He also finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting, and was fourth place in first place votes for the award with 13. It’s also his fourth straight season where he finished above a point-per-game in scoring.

Huberdeau isn’t quite as good on the defensive side of the game, a criticism that notably came up during the Hart trophy discussion, and a likely reason that he didn’t finish as high in voting as initially expected. He has a 53.52% shot attempt share and 51.51% expected goal share at even strength over the past three seasons, numbers helped by a strong ability to generate scoring chances with his playmaking ability.

The Flames currently sit at just under $3 million in salary cap space, although this contract won’t impact it at all since it starts in the 2023-24 season. They are projected to have just over $17 million in cap space next season, largely in part due to both Milan Lucic and Sean Monahan’s contracts finishing at that time, with both contracts on the expensive side at this point in both of their respective careers. New addition MacKenzie Weegar is also due for a new contract next season, so some of that space will likely go to him, but other than that, no big names are up.