Will the St. Louis Blues regret not trading for Matthew Tkachuk?
By Jim Lynch
The St. Louis Blues were in the running to trade for Matthew Tkachuk for a few days this offseason while rumors were running wild that Tkachuk wanted out of Calgary. Although Tkachuk eventually was traded to Florida and signed long-term there, the thought of him being a Blue definitely will stick with fans for a while.
Tkachuk is a St. Louis guy, as that is where his family lives and where his father played. While he has spent his entire six-year career thus far in Calgary, the thought of Tkachuk becoming a Blue has been on the mind of Blues fans pretty much every season. The same is true for his younger brother Brady. In an ideal world for fans, those two will end up in Blues uniforms before their careers are done.
Will the St. Louis Blues regret not trading for Matthew Tkachuk this offseason?
Yes and no, but mostly no. Tkachuk is a great player. He is someone a team can build around and rely on to play big minutes every night. We saw him take a big step forward this past season, scoring 104 points in 82 games despite being 24 years old.
Tkachuk plays physically and gets under the skin of his opponents. However, at the price the Panthers had to pay to get him, I do not think the Blues would have been able to survive giving up that big of a haul.
In return for Tkachuk and a fourth-round pick, the Flames received:
- Jonathan Huberdeau
- MacKenzie Weegar
- Cole Schwindt
- 2025 First Round Pick
I cannot imagine who the Blues would have had to give up to match that trade-in value. Weegar and Huberdeau are two elite NHL players, Schwindt is a young prospect who very well could be in the NHL next season, and the first-round pick while lottery protected is still a first-round pick.
While Weegar and Huberdeau are in the final year of their current contracts, if they re-sign in Calgary, it might be open to debate whether the Flames won this trade.
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So no, the Blues won’t regret giving up so much talent for just one player. At the end of the day the team that brings in a star like Tkachuk needs talent around that one player and this trade would have drastically hurt the Blues.
The Blues will regret not having Tkachuk on their team though. He is a great player and is already someone the fans love and want to get behind. This seemed like the franchise’s one chance to land Matthew Tkachuk and now they have to wait for the end of his current deal which will end after the 2029-30 season. By then Tkachuk will be 33 years old and who knows how the Blues will look at that point.
Blues fans, let us know what you think in the comments. Although it would have been cool to see Tkachuk in a Blues jersey, the value in this trade would have been pretty hard to match.