Until 2025, the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers shared the title of having the biggest NHL blockbuster trade of the cap era.
Back on July 22, 2022, late on a Friday night, the two teams executed a deal that would send Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick to the Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a conditional 2025 first-round pick. It sent shockwaves through the NHL and altered both franchises’ courses for better and for worse.
Looking back at it now, it’s reasonable to say that the Flames came out of that deal as the “losers” based on all of the circumstances. Many could say that it was one of the worst trades for the Flames in the cap era.
With January 2025 including a new blockbuster three-team deal in the NHL, the Flames don’t have to worry about holding that title anymore.
Carolina got the job done on the trade front
In case you have been living under a rock, the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks engaged in one of the biggest trades the NHL has ever seen. The Hurricanes acquired both Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall from the Avalanche and Blackhawks respectively, while only giving up Martin Necas, Jack Drury, and three separate picks. One of those picks, a third-rounder in 2025, went to the Blackhawks while the rest of the assets made their way to Colorado.
Out of everyone involved, Carolina was the clear-cut early winner. They gave up a player they had been trying to trade for years in Necas—who is having a career year—and didn’t have to part with a first-round pick or any of their top prospects. In return, they got a perennial 100-point player in Rantanen and former league MVP in Hall. It’s a home run for Eric Tulsky and the crew.
Two teams on the losing end of the trade
Meanwhile, things look very poor for Colorado and even more questionable for Chicago.
The Avalanche lost a homegrown product who was part of a dynamic duo with Nathan MacKinnon. Necas may fit in well, but you simply cannot replace Rantanen’s production with the depth the Avalanche has. Now they may be able to fill in the gap with another trade, but that would cost further assets and still won’t reach the heights of what Rantanen provided.
The Blackhawks got involved here and made out the worst of all three teams. All they got out of this was a third-round pick while retaining 50% of Rantanen’s salary while also giving up Hall. The pick would have made sense for one of those transactions but not both. For a team rebuilding they easily could have snagged an extra pick at the very least, but they seem to have jumped the gun on trading Hall for a limited return.
Making out worse than the Flames
Now coming back to the Calgary angle, looking back on the Tkachuk trade, it’s not great. The Flames are “retooling” while the Panthers are the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Add in the fact that the Flames lost Schwindt on waivers and used the first-round pick to shed Sean Monahan’s contract—which in itself is another terrible deal.
All that being said, the Flames still have Huberdeau and Weegar locked up long-term and are easily two of the team’s best players right now. To make out with a top-line winger and number-one defenceman is not something to cry about.
The big difference here is that Rantanen was a pending UFA, while Tkachuk was an RFA who eventually signed a long-term deal as part of the trade. Rentals are not going to fetch as much on the market, but the return is still underwhelming in comparison.
The Flames may have “lost” their trade, but since two teams made out worse in the current deal it’s hard to argue that the Flames own the worst blockbuster outcome of the cap era.
