Matthew Tkachuk breaks his silence on being traded, admitted he almost went to 3 other teams
Matthew Tkachuk was drafted 6th overall by the Calgary Flames in 2016 and had six fairly decent seasons with them, especially the last one in 2021-2022 where he scored 42 goals and an impressive 62 assists. However, on the Cam & Strick Podcast, it was revealed that Tkachuk wasn't really interested in signing with Calgary long-term. Because of that, he got the opportunity to visit with other teams and essentially make his own decision on where to go when the Flames decided they would trade him.
On the podcast, Tkachuk says,
With their permission, I was allowed to basically for one week talk to, you know, other teams and figure it out, obviously with their permission and everythingthe three final teams were Florida, Carolina, and St. Louis.
Not every player gets the opportunity that Tkachuk was given, and he's very aware of that, also saying on the podcast, «
I felt very lucky because I basically was a UFA.»
Tkachuk also says that despite having to do is own research for the three teams, he had almost all of his sights set on Florida. I'd say he definitely made the right decision, though, because he had an unbelievable first season with the Panthers last year (let's not forget his game-winning goal in 4OT against Carolina with a mere 13 seconds left). It'll be incredible to see what the guy does this upcoming year in Florida.
POLL |
SEPTEMBRE 9 | 169 ANSWERS Matthew Tkachuk breaks his silence on being traded, admitted he almost went to 3 other teams Do you think Matthew Tkachuk will have another good season rivaling last years? |
Yes | 92 | 54.4 % |
No | 57 | 33.7 % |
I don't care about Florida | 20 | 11.8 % |
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