On NHL Draft day, the New Jersey Devils offered the second-overall pick to the Calgary Flames for restricted free agent Matthew Tkachuk. The Flames turned the deal down at the time, but now it looks like he will be traded regardless. It is pretty clear he wants out and without Johnny Hockey on the roster, the team looks to be going down the same path the Devils did after their former captain Zach Parise left and then Ilya Kovalchuk left the offseason after. As we know, this is bad for them but it’s good for whichever team acquires the star.
Last season, Tkachuk put up 42 goals and 104 points. Those are obviously insanely good totals. It makes it all the better when you remember how physical he is. There are 31 other teams who could use a guy like this, and the Devils will have to make a big offer for him but he would move this team in the right direction.
That being said, if they do make the big play for him, it needs to be followed by an immediate extension. While it is obvious you cannot sign a guy just to have him walk as a free agent the next offseason, so when signed it would need to be for 7-8 years and this would be for big money, easily $9 million or more. But first, let’s see what it would take to get Matthew Tkachuk in Devils red.
Trade 1
With this trade, the Flames would want to stay competitive now. No one wants to rebuild, especially after being a team that got to the second round in the playoffs and was one of the best in the regular season. The Flames have always seemed hesitant to truly tank.
With this deal, they would get back the Devils’ second-best forward and a guy who can drive the play at the NHL level. Jesper Bratt is even younger than Tkachuk, which would make him not only a good part for now but for the future as well. While it would be very hard to let a guy like this go, it would be needed to get this done.
When it comes to Damon Severson, he is likely going to be on the way out sooner rather than later after this team acquired John Marino on top of drafting defensemen high in the draft for multiple years. He is a very good middle-pairing defender who can move the puck and put up points.
A lot of Devils fans have soured on Severson. This would be a big loss for the Devils, but from the Flames’ side, it would give them a very strong veteran D core that coach Daryl Sutter could use to keep them in the playoffs.
As for the third part, this is an add on and not the big part of this deal so to specify the core prospects would be Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Alex Holtz. The main appeal of this deal is getting two very good NHL players who will be good for years, but it’s hard to consider this as the best offer they will see.