Poll: Who Won The Calgary Flames-Florida Panthers Blockbuster?
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
Who Won The Calgary-Florida Blockbuster?
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Calgary Flames 74% (3,413)
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Florida Panthers 26% (1,214)
Total votes: 4,627
App users, click here to vote.
Snapshots: Texier, Panthers, Devils, Wise
After missing the end of last season due to personal reasons, Blue Jackets forward Alexandre Texier is expected to be back with the team in training camp, GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated in a press conference today (video link). The 22-year-old had a strong first half of the season, picking up 20 points (a new career-high) in 36 games before suffering a fractured finger in late January and then being granted an indefinite leave of absence back in March. Texier will be entering the final year of his contract next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer with a qualifying offer of $1.75MM so there will be a lot riding on his performance in 2022-23.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Panthers are set to hire Jamie Kompon as an assistant coach, reports Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). The 55-year-old is no stranger to working behind an NHL bench having been an NHL assistant for all but two years dating back to 1997; those two years when he wasn’t in the NHL came when he was the head coach of WHL Portland. Kompon had spent the last six seasons with Winnipeg, working with Paul Maurice for most of that time so Maurice will have someone he’s quite familiar with as he embarks on his first season at the helm in Florida.
- The Devils were among the teams aggressively pursuing Matthew Tkachuk before he was eventually traded to Florida late Friday, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). New Jersey was expected to once again make a big splash this summer a year after handing out the biggest UFA contract to Dougie Hamilton but instead, they’ve largely opted to go with trades to add to their roster, making a trio of deals so far while Ondrej Palat received a five-year contract in free agency.
- Blackhawks prospect Jake Wise has opted to return to Ohio State for his fifth and final college season, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. As a result, Chicago will retain the rights to the 22-year-old center. Wise, a 2018 third-round selection, had more points with Ohio State last season (28) than his first three with Boston University combined (17), and a similarly strong showing in 2022-23 might be enough to help him earn an entry-level deal.
Minor Transactions: 07/23/22
As the fallout from the Matthew Tkachuk, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar blockbuster wraps itself up, there is still plenty happening around the hockey world. We’ll be sure to keep everything updated, whether it’s a superstar for superstar swap or a minor league signing. For news more like the latter, check back here for all the latest.
- The Providence Bruins announced that they have signed goaltender Francois Brassard to a one-year AHL contract for the 2022-23 season. A 2016 draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, Brassard spent five years in the QMJHL before playing Canadian college hockey for Carleton University. Now 28, Brassard turned pro after his 2018-19 college season and has spent his entire professional career in the ECHL, absent a three game stint with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack this season. The goaltender has absolutely earned himself a chance to shine in the AHL next season, posting a 2.19 goals-against average and .911 ave-percentage in 31 games for the Jacksonville IceMen of the ECHL this past season.
Bruins And Pavel Zacha Making Progress On Contract Talks
While Pavel Zacha filed for arbitration earlier this month, it appears that there’s a good chance that his case won’t come to a hearing. The center’s agent – Darren Ferris of Quartexx – told Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link) that a new deal for his client “should be completed in short order”.
Boston acquired the 25-year-old from New Jersey just hours before free agency opened up earlier this month in exchange for Erik Haula. Zacha hasn’t been able to live up to his draft billing as the sixth-overall selection in 2015 but he has shown improvement over the last couple of seasons and is coming off a year that saw him collect 15 goals and 21 assists in 70 games with New Jersey; his 36 points were a career-high.
That was good enough for Boston to acquire and qualify him at a $3MM cost although that number is likely going to go higher on his next contract. Zacha is in his final season of RFA eligibility since he already has six seasons of service time under his belt so it stands to reason that the sides are working on a multi-year agreement at this point which would at least give them a bit of depth down the middle.
It would also give them the cost certainty needed to move forward with the rest of their offseason planning. The Bruins have stated their interest in re-signing Patrice Bergeron if the soon-to-be 37-year-old is open to returning for a 19th NHL season. They’ve also been in talks with David Krejci about bringing him back to North America. But until Zacha’s deal gets done, GM Don Sweeney won’t know what exactly he has left in cap space.
Either way, it won’t be much. CapFriendly currently projects Boston to have $4.758MM in cap room, the bulk of which will go to Zacha. Not surprisingly, Sweeney acknowledged earlier this month that if Bergeron and Krejci return, it will need to be on a low-salary deal with performance bonuses. They will likely need to clear out a contract as well, even with several veterans (Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk) likely to start the year on LTIR. Ferris also told Conroy that there’s “lots going on” so a Zacha contract may be the domino that gets things going on the rest of their offseason moves.
Flames Re-Sign Matthew Phillips
The Flames have avoided arbitration with one of their remaining restricted free agents as the team announced they’ve re-signed Matthew Phillips to a one-year deal. The two-way contract will carry a cap hit of $750K in the NHL. PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that Phillips will make $140K at the AHL level.
The 24-year-old is coming off a career year at the AHL level. After failing to reach the 40-point mark in his first three professional seasons, Phillips picked up 31 goals and 37 assists in 65 games with AHL Stockton; his 68 points led the Heat in scoring. He also chipped in with eight points in 13 playoff contests. However, he didn’t see any action with Calgary and has just one career NHL appearance under his belt from the 2020-21 campaign.
The league minimum cap hit in the NHL means that Phillips ultimately accepted less than his qualifying offer. The arbitration filing simply stood to try to get him a higher price tag in the minors (he received a $60K bump from a year ago) and ensured he’d have a contract in place long before the start of next season. Phillips will once again be waiver-eligible next season and while he passed through unclaimed a year ago, it may not be as much of a guarantee this time around after finishing ninth in AHL scoring last season.
Flames GM Brad Treliving still has a lot of work to do with his restricted free agents. Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington are among those that are scheduled for arbitration hearings next month while Adam Ruzicka and Martin Pospisil also are in need of new contracts.
Pacific Notes: Kraken, Foegele, Canucks
After acquiring winger Oliver Bjorkstrand from Columbus on Friday, the heavy lifting for Seattle’s offseason appears to be done. However, GM Ron Francis told reporters, including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, that he’s still open to adding another depth defenseman and another depth forward. The team has roughly $3.6MM in cap space per CapFriendly with Morgan Geekie still needing a new contract that will cut into that cap space. Ryan Donato was an intriguing non-tender earlier this month likely due to his arbitration eligibility despite recording 16 goals and 15 assists (good for sixth in team scoring) and Francis indicated that the door is still open to his return as well at the right price.
More from the Pacific Division:
- With the Oilers being among the teams that are still looking to clear out some money this summer, Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal posits that the cleanest option for Edmonton might be to move winger Warren Foegele. Acquired in a trade from Carolina last summer, the 26-year-old signed a three-year, $7.5MM deal that has two seasons remaining. Foegele had 26 points in 82 games last season but posted 127 hits (a new career-high) which could be of interest to teams looking for some grit in the bottom six. Edmonton still has to re-sign forwards Jesse Puljujarvi, Ryan McLeod, and Kailer Yamamoto and are basically down to the LTIR space from Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith ($6.367MM combined). It will be difficult to sign those three with that money so finding a spot for Foegele would certainly help their cause.
- Winger Ty Ronning expressed an interest in signing with Vancouver this summer to play with AHL Abbotsford, notes Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province. However, the team indicated that their preference was to focus on the development of their prospects which would have limited Ronning’s playing time and resulted in him signing with Minnesota’s farm team instead. The 24-year-old spent five years with WHL Vancouver so joining the Canucks would have been a homecoming of sorts.
Notes From The Calgary-Florida Trade
Friday’s trade that saw the Flames send winger Matthew Tkachuk to Florida along with a 2025 conditional fourth-round pick for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick certainly was a blockbuster one that dramatically shakes things up for both teams. Here are some additional news and notes from the swap.
- The swap was completed as a sign-and-trade which meant Tkachuk re-signed with Calgary before being traded to Florida. That means that Florida doesn’t get the second buyout window that they would have received had Tkachuk signed with the Panthers. That said, had Florida signed him, they’d have been limited to a seven-year term because he wasn’t on their reserve list at the trade deadline. Calgary will still get their second buyout window once RFAs Matthew Phillips, Andrew Mangiapane, and Oliver Kylington re-sign.
- Per CapFriendly (Twitter link), the condition on the fourth-round pick that Florida is receiving is tied to the lottery protections on the 2025 first-round selection. If the Panthers’ pick in 2025 is in the lottery and thus doesn’t convey until 2026, the fourth-round pick will also be moved to 2026.
- According to TSN’s StatsCentre (Twitter link), this swap is only the second one in NHL history that sees a pair of 100-point players from the previous season being traded for each other. The other was the move that saw Wayne Gretzky go to Los Angeles back in 1988 with Jimmy Carson going to Edmonton as part of the swap.
- Prior to the trade, the Panthers had held extension talks with Huberdeau, reports George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. There had been an expectation he’d sign a long-term agreement close to the $10MM that Aleksander Barkov is receiving next season as his new deal kicks in but clearly, GM Bill Zito preferred to allocate that money to Tkachuk instead.
Kings Re-Sign Gabriel Vilardi And Jaret Anderson-Dolan
The Kings have agreed to terms with a pair of their remaining restricted free agents as the team announced that they’ve signed forwards Gabriel Vilardi and Jaret Anderson-Dolan to one-year contracts. Vilardi receives a one-year, one-way deal worth $825K while Anderson-Dolan receives a two-way pact that’s worth $750K at the NHL level.
Vilardi was a first-round pick of Los Angeles back in 2017 (11th overall) but dealt with back trouble soon after. The 22-year-old actually played less with the Kings last season (25 games) than he did in the pandemic-shortened campaign (54 contests) with the team being a little deeper up front plus their desire to give him big minutes in the minors. In his NHL appearances, Vilardi picked five goals and two assists while averaging 13:31 per night but was much more productive with AHL Ontario, notching 15 goals and 23 helpers in just 39 contests. In his career, he has played in a total of 89 NHL contests, collecting 18 goals and 19 assists.
While Vilardi was owed a qualifying offer of just over $874K, that only had to be a two-way offer. By taking a little less than that, he was able to secure that as his guaranteed salary no matter where he plays (although he’s now waiver-eligible so it’s unlikely that he’d made it back to the Reign) while giving Los Angeles a bit of cap flexibility.
As for Anderson-Dolan, the 22-year-old is also coming off his entry-level deal. The 2017 second-rounder (41st overall) also saw less NHL action than in the pandemic-shortened season, going from 34 NHL appearances in 2020-21 to just seven in 2021-22 (where he was held off the scoresheet). He played quite well in the minors though, finishing third on the Reign in scoring with 24 goals and 23 assists in 54 games.
Anderson-Dolan also took less than his NHL qualifying offer which will result in him receiving a higher AHL salary than he would have received had he taken his qualifier. However, he’s also waiver-eligible next season and as a young center with 50 career NHL games under his belt, putting him on waivers to try to send him back to Ontario would be a little risky. Instead, he would be a candidate to break camp as an extra which wouldn’t be great for his development but would ensure he’d remain with the organization.
The Kings still have some work to do on the RFA front with defensemen Michael Anderson and Sean Durzi in need of new contracts. With limited cap space, they will likely need to pursue short-term agreements with both players in the coming days.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report that both players had re-signed.
Blue Jackets Re-Sign Trey Fix-Wolansky
A day after getting their top restricted free agent re-signed, the Blue Jackets went back to locking up some of their depth pieces, announcing the signing of winger Trey Fix-Wolansky to a one-year, two-way contract. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the deal will pay $750K in the NHL and $80K in the minors.
The 23-year-old made his NHL debut last season, getting into six games with Columbus where he picked up a goal and an assist despite averaging just 6:17 per contest. His goal came in his NHL debut against Washington, becoming the sixth player in Blue Jackets history to score in his NHL debut. Fix-Wolansky spent the bulk of last season in the minors and picked up career highs in goals (15) and assists (18) in 53 games with AHL Cleveland.
Fix-Wolansky will be waiver-eligible for the first time next season and will need to pass through unclaimed in order to make it back to the Monsters. With a limited track record so far him being a smaller player at 5’8, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t be picked up off the wire. However, after holding his own in his first taste of NHL action last season, Fix-Wolansky should get another opportunity at some point with the Blue Jackets in 2022-23 when injuries arise.
Columbus now has one remaining restricted free agent to re-sign this summer in winger Emil Bemstrom who wasn’t eligible to file for salary arbitration earlier this month.
Bruins Re-Sign Jack Studnicka
The Bruins didn’t reach an agreement with Jack Studnicka by the time that qualifying offers lapsed on Friday but they didn’t need much time after that to sign him as the team announced that they’ve signed the forward to a two-year contract. The deal carries an AAV of $762.5K and is a two-way agreement for 2022-23 and a one-year pact for 2023-24.
The 23-year-old was a second-round pick of the Bruins back in 2017 (53rd overall) and has seen some NHL action in each of his first three professional campaigns. Last season, Studnicka played in 15 games with Boston, picking up three assists while averaging 12:35 per game. He was, however, more productive in the minors with AHL Providence, notching 10 goals and 25 assists in 41 contests, the best points-per-game rate of his three professional seasons.
Studnicka will have to pass through waivers next season to make it back to Providence and while he hasn’t had a lot of NHL success just yet with just a goal and six assists in 37 career contests, the fact he’s a young center with some experience would make him a candidate to be claimed off waivers if they tried to send him back down. Instead, it seems likely that Studnicka will be able to collect his NHL salary for both years – $750K next season and $775K in 2023-24 – by hanging on to a spot at the back of Boston’s roster while hoping to land a full-time spot in their lineup.
John Matisz of The Score was the first to report the contract.