Calgary's Arbitration Filing Suggests Matthew Tkachuk Likely to be Traded
It has been a brutal few months for the city of Calgary & their beloved hockey club. After losing in the Conference Semi-Finals to the hated Edmonton Oilers, the Flames lost star F Johnny Gaudreau to free-agency, and now they face the harsh reality that they might be without Matthew Tkachuk next season as well. While the team filed for club-elected salary arbitration, that doesn't mean he suits up for the Flames next season.
After missing out on Gaudreau, the Flames need to decide how to manage Matthew Tkachuk & his rather large incoming contract. Sign him to a one or two-year deal, only to usher him into unrestricted free-agency or trade him now while his value has never been higher.
Eric Francis of Sportsnet believes the latter is most probable:
Flames fans know all too well about their top players walking for nothing. This year it was Johnny Gaudreau, but Flames fans will always remember Jerome Iginla leaving for nothing & Mark Giordano going in the expansion draft. Management appears to get the hint now: if a player won't sign a long-term extension in Calgary, it is probably best to trade that player for a viable return rather than letting him leave for nothing.
That seems to be the case with Matthew Tkachuk. After the team elected for arbitration, optimists believed that a deal could be made & everything would be peachy. But that is not really the case. The main reason Calgary opted for arbitration was to buy themselves time & fend off offer sheets. But Tkachuk commands a $9M qualifying offer, and he has not shown much interest in signing any sort of long-term extension. Which, frankly, is more than you can say for Gaudreau.
And so, even if a deal does get struck, it likely won't be a good one for either side & Tkachuk will be only that much closer to UFA status. Ipso facto, a trade appears the most likely outcome for him. The big questions at that point become: who & what for?
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 19 | 255 ANSWERS Calgary's Arbitration Filing Suggests Matthew Tkachuk Likely to be Traded Will the Flames trade Tkachuk or keep him? | ||
| Trade him | 189 | 74.1 % |
| Keep him | 66 | 25.9 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Patrick Maroon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Lukas Reichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Travis Konecny | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Anze Kopitar | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Quinton Byfield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Noah Cates | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marcus Johansson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Adrian Kempe | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Martin Pospisil | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kevin Rooney | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bobby Brink | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kevin Fiala | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Justin Kirkland | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Daniil Miromanov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||