Flames add Chris Tanev on 4-year pact with $4.5M AAV

The Calgary Flames landed another former member of the Vancouver Canucks, signing defenseman Chris Tanev to a four-year contract carrying an average annual value of $4.5 million, the team announced Friday.

Calgary signed former Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a six-year, $36-million contract earlier Friday.

Tanev tied a career high with 20 points in 69 games during the 2019-20 season while averaging 19:32 of ice time per contest. He's posted strong defensive metrics for the majority of his career but took a step back in 2019-20, according to HockeyViz's isolated five-on-five impact.

Red is good in the offensive zone (top row), blue is good in the defensive zone (bottom).

One of the knocks on Tanev has been his inability to stay healthy, as he's never played more than 70 games in a season (though he likely would have this season if it weren't for the pause).

The 30-year-old will help replace the departed TJ Brodie, who signed a similar four-year, $20-million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier Friday. Travis Hamonic, another key cog on the Flames' blue line for the past few seasons, also remains an unrestricted free agent.

As it stands, the Flames' blue line projects to look something like this:

The Flames are left with a projected $6.4 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly, and still need to re-sign RFAs Kylington and Andrew Mangiapane.

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