Calgary's Arbitration Filing Suggests Matthew Tkachuk Likely to be Traded
It has been a brutal few months for the city of Calgary & their beloved hockey club. After losing in the Conference Semi-Finals to the hated Edmonton Oilers, the Flames lost star F Johnny Gaudreau to free-agency, and now they face the harsh reality that they might be without Matthew Tkachuk next season as well. While the team filed for club-elected salary arbitration, that doesn't mean he suits up for the Flames next season.
After missing out on Gaudreau, the Flames need to decide how to manage Matthew Tkachuk & his rather large incoming contract. Sign him to a one or two-year deal, only to usher him into unrestricted free-agency or trade him now while his value has never been higher.
Eric Francis of Sportsnet believes the latter is most probable:
Flames fans know all too well about their top players walking for nothing. This year it was Johnny Gaudreau, but Flames fans will always remember Jerome Iginla leaving for nothing & Mark Giordano going in the expansion draft. Management appears to get the hint now: if a player won't sign a long-term extension in Calgary, it is probably best to trade that player for a viable return rather than letting him leave for nothing.
That seems to be the case with Matthew Tkachuk. After the team elected for arbitration, optimists believed that a deal could be made & everything would be peachy. But that is not really the case. The main reason Calgary opted for arbitration was to buy themselves time & fend off offer sheets. But Tkachuk commands a $9M qualifying offer, and he has not shown much interest in signing any sort of long-term extension. Which, frankly, is more than you can say for Gaudreau.
And so, even if a deal does get struck, it likely won't be a good one for either side & Tkachuk will be only that much closer to UFA status. Ipso facto, a trade appears the most likely outcome for him. The big questions at that point become: who & what for?
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 19 | 255 ANSWERS Calgary's Arbitration Filing Suggests Matthew Tkachuk Likely to be Traded Will the Flames trade Tkachuk or keep him? | ||
| Trade him | 189 | 74.1 % |
| Keep him | 66 | 25.9 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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YESTERDAY
MAY 16, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Metsa | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||