Treliving says Tkachuk trade had 'nothing to do' with losing Gaudreau

Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving says Friday's blockbuster trade that saw forward Matthew Tkachuk sent to Florida had "nothing to do" with the recent departure of linemate Johnny Gaudreau.

The trade saw the Panthers acquire not only Tkachuk but also a conditional fourth-round pick from Calgary, while the Flames received forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Cole Schwindt, defenceman MacKenzie Weegar and the Panthers' lottery-protected 2025 first-round selection.

Speaking with the media on Saturday at noon, Treliving said Tkachuk's agent told him last weekend that the 24-year-old "didn't have an appetite" to sign Flames long-term.

"Being a Calgary Flame long-term was not in his plans," Treliving said.

Treliving said he would let Tkachuk speak to his reasons for wanting to leave himself, but he "very much" enjoyed his time in Calgary, and that his departure wasn't linked to Gaudreau.

"Matthew's decision was not tied to Johnny's in any way whatsoever," he said.

"Players have made choices, they have every right to make those choices. We deal with them when they come up.

"The ownership of this organization, the management team here, did everything possible to have these players sign and stay. They chose they didn't want to – not a lot you can do about that, so you move forward."

Tkachuk gave the Flames a list of teams he would be open to signing a long-term contract with.

Treliving says he appreciated both Tkachuk and his agent showing a "willingness" to work with the Flames.

"I want to thank Matthew," Treliving said. "I've got a strong relationship with Matthew. We drafted him as an 18-year-old player, we saw him grow up in this organization. He's been a special guy to this organization.

"He made a decision to move on – I appreciate his honesty.

"He chose the path to go down, and we had to facilitate that as best we possibly could."

Treliving went on to say both Calgary and the Flames as an organization have "taken some body shots" over the past week.

"A lot has been written about and discussed," he said. "Quite frankly, it pisses me off. This is a wonderful community. I think that anybody that lives here is privileged to live in a wonderful community. We've got a team that I thought was a top team in the league, competing to be a Stanley Cup champion and we're going to continue to do that.

"People have the right to choose and pick where they may want to go and may not want to go, but as a community, as an organization, we do not have to apologize for anything.

“We're proud of who we are, we are proud of the community that we work and live in and the people that work here and play here are tremendously proud to be living here, working for and playing for the organization."

Tkachuk, who is Arizona-born but St. Louis-raised, registered 152 goals and 382 points in 431 regular-season games with Calgary. Selected sixth overall at the 2016 NHL draft, Tkachuk added seven goals and eight assists in 27 post-season appearances.

JOHNNY GAUDREAU VS. JONATHAN HUBERDEAU

Treliving says 29-year-old Huberdeau is a dynamic, competitive and elite player who has the ability to make other players around him better.

"We added a premier forward to our team."

Huberdeau had a career-high 115 points last season, including an NHL-best 85 assists. He has appeared in 671 career games with Florida, registering 198 goals and 415 assists.

Comparing Huberdeau to Gaudreau, Treliving says both are "tremendous distributors of the puck."

"I think there (are) a lot of similarities in terms of their game. Certainly, there are some differences in terms of their size. Johnathan kills penalties and really took on a bigger role of doing that last year and was successful at it. At the end of the day, you're talking about two very high-end players, tied for second in the league in points. That's a rarity. They're both special players."

With files from The Canadian Press