It's been a couple of weeks now since the infamous Matthew Tkachuk trade and with the dust finally beginning to settle, the Flames appear poised to take a run at extending newly acquired Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar and keeping them in the fold in Calgary for the foreseeable future.
Both players went on the record during a Zoom call recently, stating that they are open to the idea of remaining in Calgary long-term, but is the writing already on the wall for Huberdeau? Was he being disingenuous? There are rumours circulating that he has the desire to sign with the Montreal Canadiens as a free agent next summer. As a Quebec native, the allure could certainly be there. There's also something else leading to the speculation that Huberdeau will depart Calgary at season's end. Something subtle that many may not have noticed.
During a recent video announcement, Huberdeau selected his new number. With long-time Flames forward Mikael Backlund already in possession of Huberdeau's typical #11, Huberdeau announced last week that he had settled on wearing #10 next season. The devil, as they say, is in the details and how Huberdeau had worded things, it very much made it seem like he is only intending to spend one season in Calgary.
If Huberdeau is indeed intending to move on and test free agency next summer, that likely means he'll be on the move at some point this season, and if that's the case, the Flames will likely get a killer return for the 29-year-old, who has one season remaining on his current deal at a very modest $5.9M.
I'm sure that when the Flames pulled off the deal for Huberdeau, they had plans of him sticking around, but if he does decide that he does not wish to re-sign in Calgary, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Flames lost the Matthew Tkachuk deal. That will very much depend on the return that GM Brad Treliving gets for Huberdeau.
