Last night’s trade between the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers involving Matthew Tkachuk and Jonathan Huberdeau will likely go down as one of the biggest blockbuster deals in the NHL’s history. For only the second time in NHL history, two players who were 100-point scorers the previous season were traded for one another, with the other trade involving The Great One himself – Wayne Gretzky (link). To underscore that, in this four-player deal, MacKenzie Weegar, who received Norris votes in each of the last two seasons and has established himself as a true top-pairing defenseman, was most likely only the third best player involved.
In the trade, the Panthers were able to acquire a 24-year-old superstar winger, one who scored 42 goals as part of a 104-point campaign this past season, crushing previous career-bests, as well as a conditional fourth-round pick in 2025 (0r 2026). On top of simply acquiring Tkachuk, Florida was able to ensure the player came signed long-term, as the teams worked out a sign-and-trade with the forward, who agreed to an eight-year, $76MM contract with the Flames immediately prior to the trade. That extension, likely helped by Calgary’s ability to give Tkachuk the eighth-year that no other team had, not only boosted Tkachuk’s value in the trade, but was likely a sticking point for any interested team, protecting them from the threat of the young star testing the free agent market next summer.
As interesting as an MVP-caliber-player for MVP-caliber-player trade is, this one is made all the more intriguing by considering that Huberdeau is arguably the better player as against Tkachuk, but it was Huberdeau that was sent along with Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt, and a first-round pick for Tkachuk and a fourth-round pick. In Huberdeau, Calgary receives a superstar playmaker who has averaged over a point-per-game since 2018-19, including an incredible 115 point 2021-22. Not necessarily seen as the superstar-caliber player that the other two are, Weegar has quietly emerged as one of the league’s best defensemen, combining excellent puck-moving with superb shutdown defense.
The caveat in this deal, that makes it feel a bit more even, is the fact that both Huberdeau and Weegar will be UFA’s next summer, not coming with extensions in place like Tkachuk, meaning Calgary, unlike Florida, is at risk to lose their players rather soon. Even if Florida decided to hang on to both players and try to extend them, Huberdeau currently carries just a $5.9MM cap hit and Weegar just $3.25MM; an extension of either would carry a very significant raise, perhaps double each salary. Tkachuck’s extension, on the other hand, comes in at just $250K more per season than their current AAV’s combined.
Not to be forgotten in the deal is Schwindt, a 2019 third-round pick of the Panthers. The forward was a star for the Mississauga Steelheads of the OHL before turning pro. As a member of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers this season, Schwindt had 40 points in 71 games, and was even able to make his NHL debut, skating in three games for Florida. As far as the draft picks in this trade go, the 2025 first-round pick headed to Calgary is lottery protected, and if those conditions apply, their 2026 first-round pick will be sent instead. The fourth-round pick headed to Florida hinges on that condition as well. Simply, if Florida’s 2025 first is not protected, it will be sent to Calgary and Calgary’s 2025 fourth is sent back. If Florida’s 2025 first is protected, they will send their 2026 first instead and Calgary will send their 2026 fourth back instead.
So, for the readers, in these early stages, who seems to be the winner of this trade? Will it be Florida with their guaranteed reward of eight years of Matthew Tkachuk and a fourth-round pick? Or will it be Calgary, who received two stars that have every right to walk away after next season, as well as a first-round pick and a prospect? Of course, there are plenty of factors that can affect how the deal is viewed long-term, but for right now, we ask you, who came out on top? We encourage you to vote and continue the debate with your friends and family as well.
Full Trade:
Calgary Receives: Huberdeau, Weegar, Schwindt, 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick (or unprotected 2026 first-round pick)
Florida Receives: Tkachuk, 2025 or 2026 fourth-round pick
App users, click here to vote.
If JG and Tkachuk were dying to get out, what makes us think Huby and Weegar wouldn’t do the same? A year from now, the Flames will
have turned their two superstars into Schwindt and one first round pick. Not good.
Also, regardless of whether they keep these players or not, my bet would be on Tkachuk being more valuable than Huby and Weegar combined 2-4 years from now, and it may not even take that long.
There is zero emotional attachment to JH or MW. If they do not extend them they will be gone at the deadline. They will get at least a 1st rounder for each player.
The problem is a similar situation that Columbus has-shedding salary AFTER the draft and free agency peetering toward the end.
If they sign NK the shuffling would really start for CGY.
I don’t think it’s as simple as that. What if they’re in playoff position? What if one of them gets hurt, or severely underachieves? Also, they didn’t shed salary; as stated above, their combined salaries are about the same as Tkachuk’s.
Flip Weegar now to the Sens for Formenten and a 2nd or 3rd. Calgary has adequate defense w/o Weegar.
^ this kind of thinking is smart
I’m not entirely sure that Formenten is really an option for anyone to go out and acquire for optics reasons. He still hasn’t released any sort of statement with regards to the Hockey Canada allegations (and he was on the team that has been accused) and the silence is getting to be fairly deafening. I would be very skeptical of any team going out to trade for one of the players who hasn’t said anything, just given what the public response would be.
Calgary won this trade all day long, Tkachuk has a bad attitude and is a distraction to any team he’s playing with.
As a Boston fan with Marchand…I think noncalagry fans have a skewed opinion of Tkachuk,much like people do of Marchand. I’d take Tkachuk all day but Calgary made the best of a bad situation. I do think Florida may have got a head of a cap crunch situation and received/signed a superstar instead of losing 2 at the same time for nothing and the playoffs lately have favored physical skilled players over just skilled. Florida also valued Barkov over Huberdeau. With cap situations, it’s a win for both
It’s almost like you think you know these guys, which you obviously don’t. If Tkachuk is a distraction,, please explain why Calgary has such an outstanding regular season. Thanks.
Agreed… that’s why I compare his reputation to Marchand
Tkachuk , much like Gadreau was unhappy living in the cess pool known as cananda
Agreed. As a Canadian living in Canada, the whole government must be in all parts of your life is growing tiresome. I miss the days of the government staying out of your life for the most part. Getting in and out of the country is a chore in itself
Yeah, like in the USA the government is only in your business if you are a women, a minority, not Christian, or not rich. ‘MERICA!
Calgary easily won this trade. if the flames are struggling at the trade deadline the two players they acquired are going to be flipped at the deadline both of them will be highly sought after so Calgary will get some prime draft capital if not also receive a young player to. yes the Panthers got the chuck”ster and he is a great player but I think the package Calvary got is going to help them one way or another long-term more than just Matthew could.
Easily? Where do you goofs come up with this stuff? Since. you can see into the future, please tell us which players will be flipped at the deadline, and which player or picks will be send back in return.
Relax!
Silly question, It’s Impossible to know the outcome less than 24 hours after the Transaction, It may take a few years to answer this.
Very possible. You can judge the processes not the outcomes.
Flames IF they extend them now OR trade them now.
If they won’t sign extensions in the next week carrying them into the season and risking injuries or getting stuck keeping them if you are in playoff position and can’t stomach moving them is the only way CGY can lose this deal.
Flames have the money and can offer them key roles on a good team. Both are Canadian. Make them good offers.
If they don’t sign, don’t risk your franchise on hope like with Gaudreau and move them now.
So if you are in a playoff spot come the deadline you think Calgary is going to trade either one of those players ?
No, which is why they have to sign or trade them now. As I said.
The problem with your idea is it needs information that doesn’t currently exist.
If they’re contenders, they’d prefer sign. A trade is a loss. If they’re not contenders, signing takes away trading options at the deadline. It also takes away the desperation teams have at the deadline trying to push that little extra.
Any plan with “now” in it means they’ve already lost.
If they don’t sign now, they have no incentive to sign later. Signing now eliminates the risk of injury or regression for them. It’s now or never.
And if they get hurt, you get literally nothing.
How would signing the league’s second leading scorer and a good young D man NOW “mean they’ve already lost”…exactly?
Losing all of their players for nothing is the loss.
Keeping good players is a win.
I think Calgary won that trade, at least for now. They only really lose if weegar and hubby do not resign. I think Calgary’s plan is to see if they can be competitive this year. If not, they are gonna get flipped. And almost all their roster is signed for still only 2 years so I feel like they can easily do a rebuild if they want to
The Blues won.
Calgary definitely won this trade whether they keep them or they trade them at the deadline, the return the flames get will be huge at the deadline for those 2 players
The only thing in Florida’s favor is they did receive the best player in the deal, locked into a reasonable contract but they definitely overpaid to get him. If Hubie was asking for near 10m aav then it makes this deal make a bit more sense. Still have to give it to Calgary because someone will give them a haul to rent Hubie at the deadline and likely a lesser haul for Weegs. They could wind up with a handful of 1sts and maybe a few decent prospects, not a bad way to start a quick reload.
Tkachuk isn’t a bad player, but to call him better than Huberdeau? Doubtful.
If he isn’t better, then why the haul? I think Florida themselves agree with the statement, as well as I.
It’s almost like you understanding nothing about economics.
As a Boston fan with Marchand…I think noncalagry fans have a skewed opinion of Tkachuk,much like people do of Marchand. I’d take Tkachuk all day but Calgary made the best of a bad situation. I do think Florida may have got a head of a cap crunch situation and received/signed a superstar instead of losing 2 at the same time for nothing and the playoffs lately have favored physical skilled players over just skilled. Florida also valued Barkov over Huberdeau. With cap situations, it’s a win for both
I’d almost always side with the team that gets the best player. Elite players are really hard to acquire, if you can get one, do it and figure everything else out from there.
UNLESS you are in the middle of a window of contention and making that trade closes the window.
MAYBE the Panthers have a plan to rebalance the team from here…if so, so be it.
But, right now…their D is bad. “No way they are winning a Cup with that group” bad. Ekblad is really good, but not always healthy. Montour is OK. Gudas has good and bad to his game. And then some warm bodies.
Combine a bad D corps with a goalie who tends to wilt in the playoffs and it’s a bad formula, no matter how good the forward group is.
The fact that Calgary turned a bad situation into a pair of high end players like they did has me giving them the edge in this trade. But from the Panthers perspective, they weren’t getting to that next level with the roster they had, so I get why they did this.
On paper you can make the argument that Calgary won, but I think Florida did if you look at the impact after 8 years. MT is a beast and is going to help the Panthers.
I suspect the Flames will flip Huberdeau and Weegar for picks and prospects. Florida does not have a first round draft choice for the next three years. That will certainly come back to haunt them. I thought Bill Zito was smarter than that. Tkachuk will have to be really great to make this trade work out for the Panthers. We will find out if Tkachuk is really that good, or was it his linemates.
Why? You do realize the Flames are and have been Contenders right? So they don’t want picks and prospects, they want NHL ready and talented players, which is exactly what they got.
Enjoyed this news over the weekend and now look forward to ESPN St. Louis Blues radio today. Had to listen to them talk about who their giving up Tkachuk not if they were getting him because he would only play in STL.
The turtle will get fat and lazy in Florida. Sutter got way more out of a hungry Tkachunky than any Panther coach ever will.
I suspect the Flames will try to resign one and trade the other at the deadline. They will be a playoff team but have the D depth to deal Weegar and mitigate the risk of not losing both for nothing.
I don’t envision a scenario where the Flames don’t win this deal in the short or long term.
Zito should be embarrassed that he got fleeced this badly in an almost no win situation the Flames were put in.
I agree. Just an FYI… but it’s Re-sign, not resign. Have a good day.