New Jersey Devils: 3 Trade Proposals For Matthew Tkachuk

My goodness, this is a steep price, but the Calgary Flames don’t need to trade Matthew Tkachuk. He’s a restricted free agent at the end of the season, and despite his contract situation being extremely complicated, the Flames can trade him whenever. For the Devils to get him now, they have to blow the doors away on the Flames.

Alexander Holtz has everything to make himself a superstar winger, but he’s obviously not there yet. Matthew Tkachuk is already a superstar, and he brings something to the table that is special. There are a lot of goal scorers in this league. There aren’t a lot of people who play like Tkachuk. He plays like a young Brad Marchand without being utterly hateable.

Tkachuk has been close to a point-per-game player over the last four seasons. On top of that, he brings a toughness to the Flames that gives them an advantage every time his team is on the ice.

The contract is a problem, so that might be the one reason why the Flames would be willing to make this trade. Tkachuk is making a $9 million salary this year, but his cap hit is $7 million. That means the team has to give him a $9 million qualifying offer and any future contract starts with that. Holtz would be a hard loss, but would the Devils be willing to lose Holtz AND start a contract negotiation at $9 million per season?