By Fitzgerald Cecilio

Calgary, Canada

The Calgary Flames wasted no time in signing defenseman Dennis Wideman after acquiring him via trade from the Washington Capitals.

Wideman, who was traded by the Capitals for a fifth-round pick in 2013 and restricted free agent defenseman Jordan Henry, signed a 5-year, $26.25 million deal. He is set to earn an average of $5,250,000 annually.

It was reported that Wideman's contract also includes a full no-movement clause, becoming the 10th player on the Flames roster who has either a no-trade or no-movement clause in their contract.

Wideman has played over 500 career games with 67 goals, 184 assists for 251 points over the course of seven NHL seasons with time spent in St. Louis, Boston, Florida and Washington.

Last season with the Capitals, Wideman had his second best offensive season tallying 11 goals along with a team high 35 assists for 46 points in 82 games which tied him for third in team scoring and lead all blue-liners with the Capitals.

Capitals general manager George McPhee said they let go of Wideman because the team was not interested to sign him to a new deal.

"I didn't want to mislead a player. When it got right down to it, I didn't think we were going to be able to sign him," said McPhee.

McPhee cited economics and the emergence of young defensemen for the Capitals as factors for not resigning Wideman.

And to get something out of Wideman, who was an unrestricted free agent July 1, he decided to work on a trade with the Flames, who readily agreed.

Henry played in 68 games for the Flames last season, scoring two goals and handing nine assists for 11 points.

 

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Flames Acquire, Sign Dennis Wideman to Long-Term Deal