The Flames pulled off a heist, but they're not out of the woods yet with Huberdeau and Weegar
The blockbuster deal involving the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers late Friday night was one of the most surprising deals I may have witnessed in my lifetime as a hockey fan. Not just because of the names involved, but because of the circumstances that surrounded the deal and the fact that Flames GM Brad Treliving seemed to make away like a bandit even though he had been dealing from a position of relative weakness.
In the end, we saw Matthew Tkachuk (with a $76M extension) and a conditional 4th shipped to Florida for superstar winger Jonathan Huberdeau, top-4 defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, a prospect and a conditional, lottery protected 1st round pick.
According to Andy Strickland, the Flames are not out of the woods yet, as no contract extension talks have taken place between the Flames and the newly acquired Huberdeau or Weegar. Given they were only acquired a couple of days ago, it's no surprise and there shouldn't be concern for Flames fans yet.
Both Huberdeau and Weegar are UFAs at the end of the season and will command huge raises from their current deals. Huberdeau is currently owed $5.9M for the upcoming season and Weegar is owed $3.25M. At 29 and 28 years old respectively, both will be looking to cash in on their last big contracts. Currently, the Flames have an abundance of cap space set for next offseason, so they would have the room to re-sign both players, if they are amenable to remaining in Calgary long-term.
The good news for the Flames is that if either or both are not keen on signing extensions, they will still have options to recoup more assets - the first being the obvious, a deadline day trade, depending on how the Flames are performing at the time and where they are in the standings.
The second option is a repeat of the Matthew Tkachuk deal, orchestrating sign-and-trade deals before free agency opens next year. Given that the Flames just completed the NHL's first ever sign-and-trade with Tkachuk, it could open the door for more teams and players to explore that route. It gives the player an option of an 8th year on their contract and it allows the team who's dealing them to collect a much better return.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 25 | 625 ANSWERS The Flames pulled off a heist, but they're not out of the woods yet with Huberdeau and Weegar Which of these players do you see re-signing/extending with the Flames? | ||
| Weegar | 130 | 20.8 % |
| Huberdeau | 107 | 17.1 % |
| Neither | 198 | 31.7 % |
| Both | 190 | 30.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
