Weegar, Huberdeau open to inking long-term deals to remain in Calgary; Flames looking like trade winners
There were plenty of jaws dropped over the weekend, when the Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames pulled off a blockbuster deal late Friday night, resulting in Matthew Tkachuk inking an 8-year, $76M contract extension and then being flipped to the Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, a prospect and a conditional 1st.
Despite the fact that Flames GM Brad Treliving was dealing from a position of weakness, he made out like an absolute bandit in the deal, though there was some concern over what would happen moving forward. With Tkachuk signed long-term in Florida, the attention quickly turned to what Huberdeau and Weegar would decide to do. There was a lot of speculation that one or both could be flipped at the deadline to recoup some assets, as both are pending UFAs.
Well, according to both players, there is an interest in signing long-term deals to remain in Calgary. Both Huberdeau and Weegar confirmed as much in their media availabilities on Monday:
If Treliving can manage to extend one or both of his two main acquisitions in the Tkachuk deal, there's no question who won the deal. While Florida arguably got the best piece in the deal, Huberdeau and Weegar are no slouches. Weegar is one of the single-most underrated top-4 defenders in the league and Huberdeau just finished tied for 2nd in league scoring in 2021-22 with 115 points. These are both pieces who can make a tremendous impact for the Flames.
Their comments must be music to the ears of Treliving, who, over the last two weeks, has watched Johnny Gadreau leave the organization via free agency and then found out that another franchise winger wanted out. He truly made the best of a potentially cataclysmic situation and gave his team a chance to compete, when they may not have otherwise had that.
Was Treliving right to steer away from a rebuild and make a bold move to remain competitive? Only time will tell, but the Tkachuk deal looks like an absolute heist by the Flames at this point.
