Both teams say no

Giving up your only good prospects and all of your 1st round picks for the foreseeable future for one player?

Any reasoning? I know its a lot to give up from Pittsburghs perspective but Tkachuk is pretty good.

Let me see if I understand this. You're supposing since Calgary doesn't have cap space for Tkachuk, they're not going to be able to make any, so the Pens, who also don't have the space, will take him off their hands. To do so the Pens need to shed a lot of salary, mostly giving it to the Flames, who don't have space, which is how this whole thing begin. You're also hoping you can bribe them into taking Johnson off your hands.

Tkachuk is 21, and very talented. His career trajectory looks fantastic. I just think Calgary will do everything possible to resign him.

Understandable and the cap sent back is more than the current suggested contract. This is more of a value trade for calgary(which i know doesnt make sense as they are trying to contend but that is why the title is as it is). The idea is that Calgary gets back lots of value + Hornqvist who plays a similar style at a much lower skill level. The idea behind adding Johnson would be for Calgary to flip him or use him as a replacement after a Brodie trade although that probably hurts them.