Flames sign Sean Monahan to seven-year deal ($6.375m AAV)

The Calgary Flames got one gigantic piece of unfinished business officially out of the way on Friday, signing alternate captain and 2013 first round selection Sean Monahan to a seven-year deal. While terms weren’t officially announced by the club, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had the cap hit scoop.

That cap hit would put the overall value of the deal at roughly $44.625 million. The contract covers three years of potential unrestricted free agency for Monahan.

The contract expires in 2013, at which point Monahan will have been in the NHL for a full decade.

The sixth selection in the 2013 NHL Draft, Monahan has quietly been one of the Flames’ most consistent offensive players since cracking their roster out of camp in 2013-14 with seasons of 22, 31 and 27 goals. He leads the entire 2013 draft class in goals and points with 21 more goals than Nathan MacKinnon and six more points. It’s probably not shocking given those totals that he managed to get $75,000 more per season on his new deal than MacKinnon did when he re-upped with the Colorado Avalanche earlier this summer.

While my analysis earlier this week projected his cap hit at between $5.4 and $5.8 million, I expected things to come in a bit closer to $6.5 million when everything was said and done due to his status as the team’s top center, his reliability as a scorer, and his general prominence and importance to the franchise. It came in a bit beneath that number, which is probably a good sign – and likely due to Brad Treliving’s tenacity as a negotiator, which we saw in the spring during the Mark Jankowski negotiations (when the GM didn’t bend on burning the first year of that entry-level deal).

Monahan’s by no means a complete player, but he’s also not nearly a finished product. He’ll be celebrating his 22nd birthday when the Flames begin their regular season against the Edmonton Oilers on October 12. With a brand-new coaching staff and a long-term deal out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see how he continues to develop.

As for the big pieces on Flames’ off-season checklist? One down, one to go.

(Oh, and Freddie Hamilton, too.)