Regrets surface in Matthew Tkachuk trade with Panthers’ new reality

The move was right at the time. Matthew Tkachuk wanted to be traded to the Florida Panthers and his wish came true earlier this summer when the Calgary Flames pulled the blockbuster trade that sent him south in return for star forward Jonathan Huberdeau and top-pairing defenseman MacKenzie Weegar. He then signed an eight-year deal worth $9.5 million annually.

But the Panthers, just a few games into the 2022-23 season, face a whole new situation and as Matt Larkin of Daily Face-Off points out, it is easy to understand why there might be some regrets in the trade for Tkachuk.

On Wednesday, the Panthers announced that they would be without star defenseman Aaron Ekblad until at least mid-November, and quite possibly longer, after the team putting him on the long-term injured reserve list with a groin injury.
The focus is now on the Panthers being without Weegar to take the load. This is how Larkin talks about the great trade that brought Tkachuk to Florida, but that now has them in trouble without both Weegar and Ekblad:

“[W]hen you factor in that Florida gave up one of the league’s premier shutdown defensemen in Weegar…from a bird’s eye perspective, I see a franchise that was right there among the league’s elite, the epitome of a win-now operation, choosing to set itself back for the long term.”

Larkin also reminds fans of Ekblad’s unhappiness with the trade that caused some palpable tension between he and his GM Bill Zito. This is what the star blue liner had said:

“There is a correct way to answer that question, and that would be, ‘It’s a business and I’m sad to see (them) go but happy with the return. Realistically, yes, I’m very happy with Matthew as a player. I think he’s going to be great for us. But sad doesn’t even cover it when it comes to the two guys that we lost.”

Now with Ekblad landing on long-term injured reserve not to mention Brandon Montour out short term, there is just a few men left on the back end and it doesn’t look like much: Marc Staal, Gustav Forsling, Josh Mahura and Radko Gudas.

That’s where Larkin and many believe there are some regrets about the Tkachuk trade, especially when it comes to sending Weegar to Calgary in the package.

Now, let’s see how long the Panthers will be without their top defemseman and if they’ll be able to survive a long-term Ekblad injury.