Flames GM Brad Treliving feels the offer made by Florida in exchange for Matthew Tkachuk easily the best available.
Given that the Panthers agreed to trade Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar as part of the package to get Tkachuk, that’s not hard to believe. “We feel … this is by a long shot the very best deal available to us,” Treliving said. “Speculation in the media was incorrect in terms of the number of teams, the teams themselves. To me, it wasn’t close in terms of what was available to us in the marketplace. Once you talk about Jonathan and MacKenzie, once those names became things we thought were real, we pursued that path. We think it gives us the best return on dealing a player of Matthew’s stature. Dealing a 24-year-old player like Matthew…we didn’t choose this path. We felt at the end of the day we were able to deal with it the best possible way given the circumstances.” Treliving did also give credit to Tkachuk for being clear on what his intentions were. That allowed the Flames to be proactive and not only trade him, but deal him to a team Tkachuk wanted to play for long term. As part of the trade, Tkachuk agreed to an eight-year, $76 million contract, which was doubtlessly a major factor in the Flames being able to get so much from Florida. Huberdeau and Weegar meanwhile still need to be re-signed by the Flames or they’ll become UFAs in the summer of 2023. If Calgary isn’t able to re-sign them though, they will have the option to trade them before the deadline.