Florida Panthers Acquire, Extend Matthew Tkachuk
The Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames have completed a massive, blockbuster trade.
The teams have each announced the swap: Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional fourth-round pick are going to the Florida Panthers, while Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick will head to Calgary.
With the trade completed, the Panthers announced that Tkachuk has agreed to an eight-year extension carrying a $9.5MM average annual value. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the breakdown of Tkachuk’s contract each season is uniform – a base salary of $1MM and a signing bonus of $8.5MM.
That settles the Tkachuk contract situation and closes off any talk of Tkachuk joining the St. Louis Blues, which had been heavily rumored in the days leading up to this trade.
Overall, this is the sort of trade that we just don’t see all that often. It involves three superstar players, two wingers who crossed the 100-point threshold last season and one late-blooming defenseman who has blossomed into a true top-pairing, all-situations minutes-eater. A trade involving three stars doesn’t happen very often, making this swap all the more interesting to unpack.
For the Flames, the rationale for making this deal was quite simple. The team had barely any time to recover from the loss of Johnny Gaudreau to the Columbus Blue Jackets before Tkachuk informed them of his intentions to test free agency in a year’s time. GM Brad Treliving was backed into a corner, and he needed to find a way to revive his team’s competitive prospects despite his leverage decreasing and assets’ values dwindling. This trade is Treliving’s way of jump-starting the Flames’ hopes for next season after a nightmarish start to their offseason.
One could very easily argue that, on a player-for-player basis, the Flames got significantly better through this trade. Yes, Tkachuk is a superstar, combining incredible skill with physicality and peskiness to provide a package of tools few players can rival. On a line with Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm, Tkachuk smashed past his career highs in 2021-22, scoring 42 goals and 104 points. But in exchange for Tkachuk, the Flames are getting a player who also blew past his career highs and reached new heights in production – Huberdeau. In 80 games, Huberdeau scored 30 goals and 115 points, helping power a Panthers offense that scored at will. And it’s not just offense with him either, Huberdeau also saw nearly two minutes of short-handed ice time per game and has made great strides in refining his 200-foot game.
But that’s not all the Flames are getting. They’re also receiving Mackenzie Weegar, a 28-year-old former seventh-round pick who’s quickly risen to be one of the most reliable, impactful, underrated two-way defensemen in hockey. Weegar scored 44 points this season and averaged 2:46 in short-handed ice-time per game. When Aaron Ekblad was struggling to stay in the lineup, Weegar became a true number-one defenseman on the best regular-season team in hockey, a true feat. It’s fair to call Weegar a number-one defenseman and he should instantly be expected to slot into that role on an already talented Flames blueline.
In addition to Weegar, the Flames are getting prospect center, Schwindt. Schwindt is 21 years old and was drafted 81st overall at the 2019 draft. The former Mississauga Steelheads star has adjusted well to professional hockey, and had 40 points in 70 games as a rookie in the AHL. Schwindt represents the future-oriented part of the return, along with the lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick the Flames also received from the Panthers.
So, for Calgary, this trade works on two levels. On one level, it helps them recover from the loss of Gaudreau and compete for a Stanley Cup next season. They are adding an MVP-level, line-driving, 100-plus point winger to replace their lost 100-point winger. They’re also adding a minute-munching, all-situations number-one defenseman as well. Instantly, their team is better. They also receive a solid prospect to develop at their new Calgary-based AHL affiliate, and a nice first-round pick as well.
The true beauty of this trade for Calgary, though, is on its second level. See, this trade gives Treliving something that is all too rare in today’s flat cap world: flexibility. Let’s say, for whatever reason, Huberdeau and Weegar aren’t great fits. The team could struggle out the gate, and it could become clear that expecting the 2022-23 Flames to compete for a Stanley Cup is unrealistic. Well, if that ends up happening, Treliving will have Huberdeau and Weegar on expiring contracts. He will be able to immediately pivot to a rebuilding planfor his club and jump-start it with two players who will likely be the most coveted assets on the deadline trade market.
Treliving would be able to, essentially, orchestrate an auction for Huberdeau and Weegar’s services next season and accumulate a significant stockpile of draft picks and prospects in the process. When added on to the prospect and draft pick already received in this deal, it’s not a bad way to begin an organizational reset, especially when it comes at the cost of a player who had already communicated his intentions to leave in free agency. So for Treliving, this trade gives him and the entire Flames organization the flexibility to be able to effectively pursue either a cup-or-bust competitive window or a future-oriented reset.
Yes, there is some risk for the Flames, there’s no doubt about that. If a rebuild is, in fact, off the table, then adding two players with just a single year of team control each as the main return for Tkachuk is a gamble. If Weegar and Huberdeau both leave as free agents next summer, and the Flames don’t win a Stanley Cup, the initial good feelings generated from this trade could evaporate. But for a Calgary team that badly needed optimism and direction after such a bad month, this is the sort of gamble they’re prepared to make.
From the Panthers’ side of the equation, the motivations behind making this trade are a bit less immediately clear. This is a team that just won the President’s Trophy, so swapping one superstar winger for another at the cost of a top-pairing defenseman might not seem like the wisest choice, especially when they need to surrender a talented prospect and a first-rounder for their trouble. But one look at the Panthers’ cap sheet can give a bit more insight into why GM Bill Zito and the Panthers made this swap.
With major cap hits for Aleksander Barkov, Sergei Bobrovsky, Ekblad, and Sam Reinhart already on the books, the Panthers were looking at a very realistic scenario that either Huberdeau, Weegar, or even both would leave as free agents next summer. That was seen as a necessary risk for a team intent on winning the Stanley Cup, of course, but Zito seemingly decided that that risk was too much to bear. So, he decided to trade both Huberdeau and Weegar at a time when they were still extremely valuable assets in order to secure a younger superstar winger who he can lock into a long-term deal.
With Weegar gone and Tkachuk swapped for Huberdeau, it’s difficult to say that the Panthers are an improved team for next season. But if this trade as well as the departure of interim head coach Andrew Brunette tells us anything, it’s that the Panthers were extremely displeased with their second-round loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Panthers clearly believe that they need a change in how their group plays, to play with more physicality, fire, and passion. There are few 100-point wingers who offer those three attributes more plentifully than Tkachuk, and even at this steep price, it’s easy to understand why Zito wanted him in Sunrise. If his presence in the lineup and locker room can help augment their team’s identity, it’ll be assets well spent.
This trade will be an extremely interesting one to track, and the storylines it creates could dominate the hockey headlines for months to come. Tkachuk is now in the same division as his brother, Brady, who captains the Ottawa Senators. The Flames have recently had to deal with questions over their ability to retain star players, and they’ve now added two star players who will, in just a year’s time, be free agents. Will the Flames be able to keep them? Will the new-look Flames be as good as last year’s club? Will Zito’s no-holds-barred chase of superstar talent, at the cost of the team’s first-round picks for the next three seasons, result in a Stanley Cup victory for the Panthers?
Those are definitely questions to ponder, and it’ll be extremely interesting to see how they end up answered.
Sportsnet’s Eric Francis was first on the trade. Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor Transactions: 07/22/22
We’re now a week out from free agency and Nazem Kadri still hasn’t signed. NHL fans are patiently waiting on the decisions of several key free agents, though plenty of other moves are happening around the hockey world. As always at this time of year, we’ll keep track of all the notable minor moves right here.
- Former NHLer Nick Lappin will be playing overseas for the first time in his professional career. Lappin, who last played in the NHL in 2018-19 for the New Jersey Devils, signed a contract with Italian club HC Bolzano of the ICEHL. Lappin’s departure from North American hockey comes after the least productive season of his AHL career. The 29-year-old forward had just eight points in 38 games, and now heads to the ICEHL, a league with a lower overall talent level. In Bolzano, Lappin will be teammates with another former NHL-er, Matt Frattin, and will look to help the Foxes improve on last season’s ninth-place finish that came without a playoff berth.
- Former NHLer Victor Bartley will have a new team after three seasons playing for the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL. Bartley, who has 121 NHL games on his resume and last played NHL hockey in 2015-16, will play for Black Wings Linz of the ICEHL. Linz won just 11 of 49 games last season and have to hope that Bartley’s experience on their back end can help them have a better 2022-23.
- Kris Bennett, the captain of the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders, is heading to Switzerland. Per a team announcement, Bennett signed a contract with Swiss club HC Lugano, who have the option of sending Bennett to the second-division Ticino Rockets if they choose to. Bennett scored 35 goals and 73 points in 50 games for the Heartlanders last season and with this contract will have an opportunity to prove himself in one of Europe’s top leagues in 2022-23.
- Joseph Garreffa, a former star for the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, has chosen to continue his career overseas. The dazzling forward once formed a lethal offensive trio with 2020 top-ten picks Marco Rossi and Jack Quinn, but hasn’t enjoyed the early success at the professional level that those two earned. Per an announcement from the club, Garreffa has signed a contract with Slovenian side HK SZ Olimpija, based in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. HK SZ Olimpija were a playoff team in 2021-22 and are hoping that Garreffa can help them return to the playoffs next season.
- The Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, announced today that they signed defenseman Chad Nychuk to a one-year AHL contract. Nychuk is a 21-year-old undrafted player who has spent the past four seasons manning the blueline for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. In his final season in Brandon, Nychuk had 71 points in 64 games, which ranked second on the team in points. This signing marks the beginning of Nychuk’s professional career and he will join Abbotsford with the hope of climbing the developmental ladder and earning an NHL contract with Vancouver.
This page will be updated throughout the day
San Jose Sharks Extend Steven Lorentz
Per a team announcement, the San Jose Sharks have re-signed forward Steven Lorentz to a two-year contract. Per a club policy, the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News Group is reporting that the deal has the following yearly financial structure:
- 2022-23: $950K
- 2023-24: $1.15MM
That structure means the deal will have an overall cap hit of $1.05MM.
Lorentz, 26, arrived in San Jose as part of the team’s compensation package for sending Brent Burns to the Carolina Hurricanes. In Carolina, Lorentz got into 67 games and scored eight goals and 13 points. Lorentz didn’t see much action in the team’s playoff run, getting into only five games, but he’s established himself as a scoring threat at the AHL level (he had 23 goals and 46 points in 61 games) and a depth piece at the NHL level.
In San Jose, Lorentz will have an opportunity to continue his development path and establish himself as a quality bottom-sixer. The Hurricanes’ special teams units were largely established and closed for Lorentz for most of the year, meaning Lorentz really could only show what he could do in even-strength situations.
If he can earn the trust of reported new head coach David Quinn, Lorentz could find himself in a greater role than he’d likely have gotten in Carolina. If Lorentz can be a capable penalty-killer on top of the energetic, physical play he already has shown he can provide, this will be a solid two-year investment for the Sharks.
Anaheim Ducks Extend Three Players
The Ducks have gotten a chunk of their outstanding offseason business done, signing three of their restricted free agents to extensions. The team announced deals for defensemen Simon Benoit and Urho Vaakanainen as well as for goalie Olle Eriksson Ek.
Vaakanainen, 23, received a two-year extension, the terms of which were not fully detailed in the announcement. Vaakanainen came to Anaheim as part of the mid-season Hampus Lindholm trade, and got into 14 games with the Ducks after being dealt there. Vaakanainen was the 18th overall pick at the 2017 draft and has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHL defenseman. In that limited sample with the Ducks, Vaakanainen played in nearly 20 minutes of ice time per game and got a sprinkling of ice time on both the power play and penalty kill.
Vaakanainen may never develop into the shutdown top-four force he was drafted to be, but there is hope that he can become a defense-first bottom-pairing piece in Anaheim.
Benoit, 23, is an undrafted player who got into an impressive 53 games for the Ducks last season. Benoit got a one-year, two-way deal. A hulking six-foot-three, 200-pound physical force, Benoit steadily earned coach Dallas Eakins‘ trust and eventually saw time on the Ducks’ penalty kill. There isn’t much offense to Benoit’s game, and he had just five points in 53 games, but he’s got four seasons of professional hockey under his belt and should be in the mix for a similar role in Anaheim this fall.
Eriksson Ek, 23, is the brother of Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek and has been a developmental goalie project for the Ducks organization since he was drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 draft. Eriksson-Ek served as the backup goalie for most of the season playing for the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. He got into 26 games and went 7-15-2 with an .880 save percentage and a 3.44 goals-against-average. He got a one-year extension.
Dallas Stars Sign Will Butcher
As John Klingberg continues his extended stay on the free agent market, his former team has continued to make moves to bolster their blueline. Today the Dallas Stars announced they signed former Hobey Baker Award winner Will Butcher on a one-year, two-way contract. Per CapFriendly, the deal carries a $750K cap hit and a $300K minors salary.
Butcher, 27, once looked like a budding star in the NHL after his first season with the New Jersey Devils. As a rookie, Butcher notched 44 points in 81 games and looked like the kind of player who could quarterback the Devils’ power play for years to come. Since that point, though, Butcher’s game has regressed, and due to a mix of injuries, inconsistency, and a lack of development in the defensive side of the game, Butcher has found himself on the type of one-year, two-way contract signed by players who need to re-establish themselves as quality NHLers.
With Klingberg’s exit now certain, the Stars will need a new face to fill Klingberg’s vacated role, that of an offense-first defenseman who can push the pace of play and help on the power play. Just a few years ago, that was what was driving Butcher’s NHL value and what made him such a coveted college free agent. In Dallas, Butcher will have a chance to play on a quality team and have the opportunity to remind people of his skills as an offensive defenseman.
Pierre-Luc Dubois Accepts Qualifying Offer
5:10 PM: The Jets have now officially announced the extension.
3:40 PM: With his name featuring heavily in trade rumors, Pierre-Luc Dubois has taken himself one step closer to an exit from Winnipeg. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Dubois has chosen to accept his one-year, $6MM qualifying offer in advance of the upcoming deadline.
This means that Dubois has, at least for this summer, elected to not sign a long-term deal with the Jets, as many have expected. Dubois will be an unrestricted free agent in two years’ time. Dubois’ representation has communicated a desire for their client to end up playing for the Montreal Canadiens and Dubois actually attended the draft in Montreal because he believed a trade would be completed on the draft floor. That did not happen, though, so Dubois has now accepted his qualifying offer as a means of simplifying his exit from Winnipeg.
The Jets surrendered two significant players to acquire Dubois: Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic and did so because they believed a one-two punch at the center position of Dubois and Mark Scheifele would be the key to the next era of contending Jets squads.
That pairing of Dubois and Scheifele doesn’t look like it’ll remain in place for much longer, as the Jets will have to decide if they want to deal Dubois this summer or continue with him on the roster in the hopes that he changes his mind about staying in Winnipeg.
Seattle Kraken Acquire Oliver Bjorkstrand
After today’s signing of Patrik Laine, the Blue Jackets badly needed to create cap space. They’ve now done so, sending winger Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick.
This trade is another example of just how difficult it is for teams trading established players to get large compensation packages in return. Bjorkstrand is a 27-year-old forward who just set career highs in production in 2021-22. Bjorkstrand scored 28 goals and 57 points in 80 games last year, which ranked second on the Blue Jackets behind Jakub Voracek. Bjorkstrand’s contract is $5.4MM for the next four seasons, taking him to his age-31 campaign.
That’s a reasonable, affordable cost for a player like Bjorkstrand, which is perhaps why he’s the player Columbus had to trade. The trade of Bjorkstrand indicates that the team may have found there was not much appetite for their other highly-priced forwards like Voracek and Gustav Nyquist, despite Nyquist and Voracek each being productive and having less term on their contracts than Bjorkstrand.
For Columbus, this is a deal fans won’t be celebrating, but it’s also one they’ll understand as the cost of doing business at the top of the free agent market. The Blue Jackets landed perhaps the most talented player in their franchise’s history, Johnny Gaudreau, on a major contract earlier this month. It’s likely that seeing Gaudreau light the lamp repeatedly in Columbus will ease the pain of losing a reasonably-priced top-six winger for just two mid-round picks.
For the Kraken, adding Bjorkstrand at such an affordable asset cost is another solid addition for a team desperate to improve on last season’s lackluster scoring attack. With Bjorkstrand in the fold and free agent signing Andre Burakovsky arriving from Colorado, Dave Hakstol will have no shortage of options for who he wants to flank his two highly-drafted young centers in Matty Beniers and Shane Wright.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
It has been an eventful few weeks around the NHL, to say the least. The draft has come and gone with several surprises, free agency has resulted in many players finding new homes, and there have been some significant trades along the way as well. With that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of the PHR Mailbag.
Last time, the mailbag was broken up into three parts. Topics in the first included the recent increase of creative usage of LTIR and Matt Murray being linked to Toronto, the second was a Red Wings-specific column, and the third included discussion about the Bruins’ offseason and possible trade targets for the Coyotes.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign Johnathan Kovacevic
The Winnipeg Jets have signed restricted free agent Johnathan Kovacevic to a three-year contract, which will carry an NHL cap hit of $766,700. The deal is a two-way contract in the first two years and a one-way contract in 2024-25.
PuckPedia provides the full breakdown:
- 2022-23: $750K NHL / $150K AHL / $175K guaranteed
- 2023-24: $775K NHL / $250K AHL / $275K guaranteed
- 2024-25: $775K
Kovacevic, 25, made his NHL debut this season and played in four games for the Jets but mostly continued his stellar play for their minor league affiliate. A 6’5″ defenseman that can contribute at both ends of the rink is incredibly valuable, and his play for the Manitoba Moose was a big reason why they finished with a 41-24-7 record.
With 30 points in 62 games, the 2017 third-round pick continued his offensive improvement and has worked his way up to being a legitimate call-up option for the Jets. The interesting part about that is that he is no longer waiver-exempt, meaning they could potentially lose him if they try to send him to the minor leagues.
In fact, that may be part of why the two sides agreed on a multi-year deal like this. Teams rarely want to pluck these kinds of commitments off the waiver wire without any previous experience with the player, meaning Kovacevic likely is able to slip through once again. That is of course unless he makes the Jets out of camp, though with how many other defensemen will be in line for NHL opportunity, that is unlikely.
Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Patrik Laine
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Patrik Laine to a four-year contract worth a total of $34.8MM. The $8.7MM average annual value will make him the team’s second highest-paid forward, coming in a little behind Johnny Gaudreau and just ahead of Jakub Voracek. Though he qualified for it, Laine had decided not to file for salary arbitration this year. His $7.5MM qualifying offer was set to expire today but the two sides have come to an agreement on a longer deal. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports the full contract details:
- 2022-23: $7.5MM
- 2023-24: $9.1MM + 10-team NTC
- 2024-25: $9.1MM + 10-team NTC
- 2025-26: $9.1MM + 10-team NTC
Laine, 24, has already completed six seasons in the NHL, meaning a deal of this length buys out three years of unrestricted free agency. Had he instead decided to accept the qualifying offer or go to arbitration, he could have reached the open market as a 25-year-old. With that in mind, a deal like this actually may seem like something of a bargain for the Blue Jackets, given the outstanding goal-scoring ability of the Finnish forward.
Since entering the league in 2016-17, Laine sits 14th in the league with 176 goals just behind Nikita Kucherov and former Winnipeg Jets teammate Kyle Connor. His career-high of 44 was set in just his sophomore year, before a little bit of inconsistency slipped into his game. Now firmly established in Columbus after a trade last year, he was outstanding this season for the Blue Jackets, scoring 26 goals and 56 points in 56 games including seven game-winners.
The upside for the 6’5″ winger was always tremendous but the circumstances of this free agent period have Blue Jackets fans even more excited for what might be on the horizon. After general manager Jarmo Kekalainen secured one of the league’s best playmakers in Gaudreau, the idea of the pair hitting the ice together should be a frightening thought for opponents and goaltenders alike. With young talents like Cole Sillinger and Kent Johnson already making an impact before they even turn 20, the Blue Jackets forward group should be as dangerous as anyone over the next several years.
Still, this is a cap league and one that is still dealing with the fallout from the previous shutdowns. The cap ceiling increased only barely this season and the Blue Jackets will now be forced to make a move to get back under it. At the moment, the team projects to be about $2.35MM over the cap, with Emil Bemstrom still to sign. There are some ways they could drop that amount but recent reports already have the team trying to cut a much bigger chunk of salary before the start of the year.
At any rate, getting Laine signed is a huge win for the Blue Jackets, and a deal like this actually doesn’t present much risk. While there is a chance he doesn’t quite live up to a cap hit that high, a four-year deal means that he will be just 28 at its expiry, likely still in his prime as an NHL talent. Laine will be able to sign another massive deal at that point but the Blue Jackets are not yet at risk of having an anchor contract on the books as he enters his thirties.
Nearly everyone on the roster will see their contracts expire by the time Laine is ready for another deal, including recent free agent signing Erik Gudbranson, who is also signed through 2025-26. If the team needs to make a mega-offer for their Finnish star at that point, they will likely have the flexibility to do so.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images