Jonathan Huberdeau caught off guard by the trade: Teams wondering if Calgary flips him.. could the Leafs take a swing?
Jonathan Huberdeau is a Calgary Flame. Matthew Tkachuk is a Florida Panther. A blockbuster deal occurred at 11pm on a Friday. What a time to be a hockey fan! Granted it was a little earlier in Calgary than it was in the Eastern time zone, but when the Flames pulled off a deal, sending Tkachuk to the Panthers in exchange for Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a 1st round pick, needless to say, there were a lot of surprised faces - including that of Huberdeau himself.
Should he really have been so shocked? After all, both Huberdeau and Weegar are set to become UFA's next summer. If extension talks are not heading in the right direction, it makes total sense to want to move on from a player before potentially losing him for nothing. So then, why was Huberdeau so surprised by the move? Well, because Florida never even opened up talks of an extension with the 29-year-old winger.
The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta broke the news on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on on Saturday that the Panthers did not even engage in any potential extension talks with Huberdeau, who recorded 115 points last season - tied with Johnny Gaudreau for 2nd in the league behind phenom Connor McDavid.
In addition, Pagnotta also revealed that several teams have come at the Flames hot and heavy to gauge whether or not they'd be interested in flipping Huberdeau to them.
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I'd imagine that the Flames intend to hang onto both Huberdeau and Weegar and take an honest run at signing them to extensions before exploring the idea of moving them, but from a Leafs perspective, Huberdeau makes just $5.9M this season. if the Buds can find a way to move Jake Muzzin (might be tough) and Alex Kerfoot (fairly easy), that would be more than enough room to re-sign RFA Rasmus Sandin and accommodate Huberdeau's full cap hit.
Huberdeau-Matthews-Marner top line anyone?? Were that to occur, it would be hands down, the undisputed best top line in hockey, period. It's an All-Star line.
I sincerely doubt that anything like this will happen, unless the Flames would be willing to admit that they're not going to be able to contend after the loss of Johnny Gaudreau in free agency and accept a package of futures for Huberdeau. It just seems very unlikely, so I'm not holding my breath. Just wanted to plant that seed.
Previously on MapleLeafsDaily
| POLL |
23 JUILLET | 570 ANSWERS Jonathan Huberdeau caught off guard by the trade: Teams wondering if Calgary flips him.. could the Leafs take a swing? If the Leafs were to acquire Huberdeau from the Flames, would Huberdeau - Marner - Matthews be the best line in hockey? |
| Yes | 403 | 70.7 % |
| Yes | 44 | 7.7 % |
| Yes | 35 | 6.1 % |
| Other (also yes) | 88 | 15.4 % |
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