On Friday night, the Calgary Flames made a big deal. The club sent restricted free agent Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, Mackenzie Wigger, Cole Schwind and a conditional 2025 first-round pick.
On Saturday afternoon, general manager Brad Treliving walked the local media through the process of making the deal happen.
Treliving said he spoke with Matthew Tkachuk’s agent Craig Oster (and subsequently Tkachuk himself) last weekend about the player’s future with the Flames. They indicated to Treliving that Tkachuk would not sign with the Flames long-term and outlined the reasons why — Treliving declined to elaborate — and it was agreed that the Flames would try to facilitate a deal. The Flames filed for club-selected salary arbitration on Monday to facilitate that process and extend the time they had available to make a team. They got a list of teams Tkachuk would consider signing with and then got to work.
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“He made a decision to move on,” Treliving said of Tkachuk’s decision. “I appreciate his honesty. I appreciate him making that decision. A week ago, this was not a plan we had. We didn’t want to move Matthew Tkachuk, but we were also put in a situation where we had to do the best we could for the organization. He chose the path to go down and we had to make it as easy as possible for him.”
Treliving subsequently told Pat Steinberg on Sportsnet 960 The Fan’s Flames Talk that the league office told him it was the first sign-and-trade since the Flames signed Tkachuk to an eight-year deal immediately before the trade (a product of negotiations between Tkachuk and the Panthers , preceding the trade).
Treliving indicated when asked that Tkachuk’s decision to move on was in no way related to a similar move by Johnny Gaudreau. He played down the idea that Calgary was not a favorable destination — including a passionate defense of the club and the city — and also played down the concept of avoiding acquiring American-born players. He indicated that the club continues to do its homework on the players and address challenges as they arise.
“You deal with problems as they come,” Treliving said. “We’ve dealt with a few issues. The players made a choice. They have every right to make those choices, we deal with them as they come. You can crawl in the corner, in the fetal position and suck your thumb, or you can deal with it. And what we’ve tried to do is deal with it.
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Life of Huberdeau:
Second in the league in goals scored. He was a top player throughout his career in the league. I think he’s one of the best hitters in the league. Not just what he does, but the ability to make the players around him better. It is dynamic. He is competitive. We have added a premier striker to our squad.
Living on Weegar:
Many people may not know Mackenzie Wigger. We believe this player is the best defender. To me, he’s really in the prime of his career. He was a right back, played on the left for the last year, the last two years mostly in the top two for the Presidents [Trophy] champions. We think this guy makes our team a lot better today.
Life of Schwindt:
Big, long, chunky center. We think he has a chance to be, at the end of the day, we think he can play in your middle six. We think he can be really good in the three hole because when you look at him, his ability to kill penalties, his ability to win eyes, high character guy… It goes back to his OHL days, so he was A part of him.
Regarding conditional draft picks, here’s what’s going on based on the information we’ve put together:
- If Florida’s 2024 first-round pick goes top 10, their 2025 first-rounder goes to Philadelphia (as part of the Claude Giroux deal). As a result, the Flames would receive Florida’s 2026 first-rounder and send Florida their 2026 fourth-rounder.
- If Florida’s 2024 first pick is not a top 10 pick, but their 2025 first rounder is a top 10 pick, the Panthers would keep their 2025 pick. As a result, the Flames would receive Florida’s first round pick for 2026 and send Florida their 2026 fourth rounder.
- If Florida’s 2024 and 2025 first-round picks are not top 10, the Flames will receive Florida’s 2025 first-rounder and send Florida their 2025 fourth-rounder.
As usual, Treliving indicated he wasn’t done with the moves, but refused to hint at anything being in the works.
We will be hearing from Huberdeau and Weegar in the coming days.
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