Who Won The BlockBuster Trade Between The Flames & Panthers?

A trade of massive proportions happened late Friday night between the Calgary Flames and the Florida Panthers. The Flames worked fast in moving Matthew Tkachuk to Florida while receiving Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a conditional 2025 first round pick.

This is the trade of the offseason and we are going to analyze who won this trade.

The Panthers won the Presidents' Trophy, struggled in Round 1 against the eighth seed Washington Capitals, and then were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round. As for the Calgary Flames, they won their division, had a hard time in the first round against the Dallas Stars, and then got stunned by the Edmonton Oilers in five games in Round 2.

The Flames had to do something since Johnny Gaudreau left in free agency and gave the team very little notice to make backup plans with Tkachuk wanting to follow suit. He notified the team he wouldn't sign long-term in Calgary and the Flames had to qualify him so that he wouldn't be offer sheeted. If a settlement were to be made through the arbitrator, it would have awarded Tkachuk with just a one-year deal before he would have become an unrestricted free agent. Rather than have that happen, Brad Treliving did what he could to get a nice return and stay competitive next season.

It could go south quickly for the Flames if both Huberdeau and Weegar, both unrestricted free agents after next season, don't decide to sign back with the team. After losing their 115-point scorer in Gaudreau and then a 104-point getter in Tkachuk, the Flames managed to bring back the other player who recorded 115 points last season as well as a top-four underrated defenseman. If Huberdeau re-signs with the Flames, they will have won the trade, but they realistically only stopped the bleeding for one season in hopes next offseason isn't as difficult on them.

The Panthers seemed to have a knee-jerk reaction to the way Huberdeau struggled to produce in the postseason after an incredible regular season. There isn't anything left to prove in the regular season for the Panthers, so they went out and got a playoff-type player who's younger and just as talented. The bonus for them is the team was immediately able to lock up Tkachuk for eight years instead of having the risk of losing both Huberdeau and Weegar next offseason. Weegar was much more likely, but it's just as possible Huberdeau wanted to test the market as he will require a massive pay raise.

It may not go as well in the short-term for the Panthers, but it also very well may. Regardless, they should be happy to get their guy long-term if they had any doubts Huberdeau or Weegar weren't re-signing with the team. It will keep them competitive in a tough division that's only getting better instead of risking taking a big step back next offseason.

The Flames may have stopped the bleeding in the short term and appear to have won the trade, but we can revisit that thought after next season and see if the team advances any further in the postseason and is able to keep even one of the players they acquired.