couldnt afford 2nd t
Joined: Sep. 2021
Posts: 1,018
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1 - Matthew Tkachuk is going to ask for franchise money. He is a 100+ point power forward, and his next contract is basically a UFA money contract because he has the leverage to sign a 1 year 9 million dollar qualifying offer, and walk right to free agency. I assume he will sign 5 years max, since he will want to be in a position to cash in on the soon to be exploding cap, while he is still young and a hot commodity. I assume his ask from Calgary, or any other team, is going to be 3-5 years at somewhere between 9 to 11 million.
2 - That's a great package if he refuses to sign an extension in Calgary, and they have to trade him. If Calgary has the option of extending Tkachuk long term, it is going to take one of Sanderson, Stutzle, Norris, etc. Because, why would they trade Tkachuk in that scenario?
3 - Matthew Tkachuk has a no trade clause by proxy, just like Trouba did. What I mean by that is, Calgary can trade him anywhere, but he doesn't have to agree to sign long term anywhere. If Tkachuk tells a team he will only sign a 1 year QO, he is worth considerably less. If he tells a team he will extend, he is worth more, but that value is going to be curbed by how many teams he is willing to sign with, and how hot they are on Tkachuk. In the above scenario, it wouldn't surprise me if St.Louis was the destination. There have always been rumblings that the Tkachuk brothers want to eventually play for their hometown team. Robert Thomas for Matthew Tkachuk makes a lot of sense as a base since St.Louis will have a difficult time paying both Thomas and Tkachuk in 2024. There may have to be other short term cap considerations to fit Tkachuk in at 9M+.
4 - What if Toronto went after Matthew Tkachuk? The only situation I could see that making sense is if Tkachuk refuses to sign long term anywhere. Calgary could sign his QO, retain 2 million, and flip him for a package headlined by William Nylander, who is the vastly inferior player, but might it gives them a different top 6 forward who might sign long term. He also has more term than Tkachuk. If we're looking for the Kawhi Leonard trade, it would be Marner for Tkachuk. Which sounds crazy on paper given Marner's term, and Tkachuk possibly walking from Toronto after 1 year, but Toronto's window ends in 2 years anyways if they cannot re-sign Matthews. They were rumored to think Matthews would get a max offer from Arizona if he hit free agency last time around. Whose to say they aren't worried about that again? They certainly can't offer him that kind of money with Marner and Tavares both on the books.