The Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers came together to make the biggest trade of the off-season. The trade sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers along with a fourth round pick in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, Mackenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and a first round pick.
As you could imagine there were many teams very interested in the services of a player of Tkachuk's caliber. Unfortunately for most of the teams they didn't either have the cap space, or the right assets to make the blockbuster deal.
However, when Hockey Insiders revealed that Tkachuk wanted to be traded, it was believed his preference was to be dealt to St. Louis. This would have allowed Tkachuk to follow in his father's footsteps.
Matthew's father Keith was one of the best St. Louis Blues players of all-time and he also currently works for the Blues. Blues General Manager, Doug Armstrong was very interested in acquiring Matthew Tkachuk but unfortunately couldn't get a deal done.
The Blues reportedly offered the Flames five different trade proposals. Some of them involved the Blues best player Vladimir Tarasenko, and defenceman Marco Scandella, but the Flames reportedly weren't interested in them.
After the Blues were unable move Tarasenko, and Scandella to another team they had to pull out of conversations because they just didn't have enough cap space to make a deal. This opened the door for Tkachuk to become a member of the Florida Panthers.
