The Atlantic Division Just Got More Interesting With The Tkachuk Trade
By Jim Lynch
The Atlantic Division is home to eight teams in the NHL, the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs are the teams in the Atlantic. The Atlantic is also the home to the Tkachuk brothers in the NHL.
Matthew Tkachuk was recently traded to the Florida Panthers from the Calgary Flames in a block buster move. The deal saw Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weeger, Cole Schwindt and a 2025 first round pick go to Calgary in exchange for Tkachuk who is coming off a 104 point season in which the 24 year old put up 42 goals and 62 assists in 82 games.
The Florida Panthers landed Tkachuk, and that just makes things even more interesting in the Atlantic.
With the move, the two Tkachuk brothers now reside in the same division. Before this season the brothers would play each other just twice a year as they were not in the same conference. Now they are scheduled to play each other three times and could potentially run into each other in the playoffs.
The Panthers and Senators meet three times in 2022-23:
- October 29 @Florida
- March 27 @Ottawa
- April 6 @Florida
That will give the brothers three times to face-off in the new season. It will arguably be the first time that the Senators are really going for a Stanley Cup with the big moves they made this offseason, and it will be a year that gives Matthew Tkachuk a new opportunity with his new team.
Brady Tkachuk, who captains the Ottawa Senators, might be the younger of the two brothers, with not as impressive resume so far when it comes to putting up a lot of points or scoring a lot of goals, but considering his team added Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat, they are looking to take a significant step forward next season.
The Atlantic Division was already home to some pretty amazing teams in the league like four Original Six teams in Boston, Toronto, Detroit and Montreal as well as the top team of the past few seasons in Tampa Bay. Now adding the Tkachuk brothers showdown to the drama just makes things more entertaining.
With Matthew Tkachuk pretty much in control of his destiny when it comes to where he was going to sign after this upcoming season, it is pretty remarkable to see him end up in the same division as his brother. Hopefully down the line we get to see them face-off in a best of seven series.