It’s now been exactly four years since the franchise altering trade that shook the foundations of both the Calgary Flames and the Florida Panthers, and the subsequent results for both franchise could not have been different.
It was on this day in 2022 that the Flames traded Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional 2025 fourth round pick to the Panthers in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt and conditional 2025 first round pick.
Tkachuk led the Panthers to three straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, winning in 2024 and 2025.
Meanwhile, Huberdeau and Weegar missed the postseason for three straight years before they made another change, trading Weegar to the Utah Mammoth this spring; the Flames also missed the playoffs once again.
The Calgary Flames Acquired Jonathan Huberdeau And MacKenzie Weegar On This Day In 2022
Naturally, it was difficult for Huberdeau to see the club that he played a decade for win the Stanley Cup twice in the years following his departure.
“It’s hard to see the guys lift the Cup,” Huberdeau said. “You say to yourself: I was there for 10 years during more difficult times. But that’s how you build a team. When you’re young, you don’t care; you want to build your career. Now I’m back in that situation, but a little older.”
“It’s never fun to be in reconstruction,” Huberdeau said. “When you are young, you can learn [and] gain maturity. You have time. But at 31, you want to win, and you want to win there. It’s harder to swallow, but you have to accept your role 100%.”
Not long after the trade, Huberdeau also expressed his appreciation for now-former Flames GM Brad Treliving to travel to his offseason home in Montreal to meet with him.
“You want to sign a guy for a lot of years, you haven’t met him, so that was really nice of him to take a plane and come and see me in Montreal and then go right back,” Huberdeau said. “The dinner went well, we got along and I think he wanted to win right now with the moves he made.
“And I think we have a really good team. That excited me. I liked how he wanted to build that team, and that made me want to stay there for a long time.”
However, that success has yet to find the Flames and Huberdeau in particular, who has seen a major drop-off in his offensive production since joining Calgary. He still has five years left on his contract with a salary cap hit of $10,500,000.
The Flames Traded MacKenzie Weegar To The Mammoth This Spring
Weegar, whom the Flames acquired with Huberdeau as part of the Tkachuk trade, was dealt away at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline to the Utah Mammoth.
In return, the Flames received defenseman Olli Määttä, forward Jonathan Castagna, and Utah’s 2026 second-round draft choice, Utah’s 2026 second-round draft choice via Ottawa, and Utah’s 2026 second-round draft choice via the New York Rangers.
He still has five seasons left on his contract he signed with the Flames carrying a salary cap hit of $6,250,000.
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