
While many believed the deal came about due to Florida offering Calgary the best package, that may not be the full story, as Tkachuk has now revealed that he was basically a UFA, and was deciding between teams at the final moment.
After making a Stanley Cup Finals run in his first year, it appears to be a good choice for Tkachuk, but with eight years on the deal, could one of the other finalists have been a better fit?
Along with Florida, Tkachuk was weighing up pitches from both the St. Louis Blues, the team his father played for over his long NHL career and the Carolina Hurricanes, who have plenty of young talent on their team.
Ultimately, it looks like he made a very good decision, but it would be interesting to know what the exact offers were from the other two when compared to Florida, but either way, now, he's locked in for a long time to come.
As Read on Blade of Steel - Tkachuk breaks his silence on being traded, admitted he almost went to 3 other teams
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 9 | 60 ANSWERS Matthew Tkachuk Reveals the three finalists to land him via trade last summer Was Florida the best landing spot for Tkachuk? | ||
| Yes | 41 | 68.3 % |
| No | 19 | 31.7 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||