[FlamesAddiction]

He isn't doing that badly. The truth is, with a couple of exceptions, the whole team is having a pretty bad year. Tkachuk's contract situation puts the microscope on him. He needs to be better to justify the qualifying offer that will be required. I think it's a little harsh to say he is declining though. Players have ups and downs. It's completely normal. It was just easier to ignore his flaws when he was on his entry level deal. Expectations were much higher now.

Having said that, I would be looking to flip him at this point. The way his last deal was structured, it is pretty clear that he doesn't have Calgary in his long term plans, which is completely fine as long as they can get good value for him. When you draft an American player, especially one with enough power to call the shots, there is a good chance that player is going to want to move to an American market at some point. It's the risk you have to take. People talk about the Russian factor when drafting, but for small market Canadian teams, there is an American factor to consider as well.

That is one of the reasons drafting high this year doesn't excite me. The top half of the first round is heavy with American players. That is not to say that all American players are flight risks, and I would always take the best player available, but you also need to feel out early what their intentions are. Tkachuk insisting on a bridge deal with an RFA QO poison pill was a clear indication to me that he was a flight risk and his tenure with the Flames had an expiration date.

I also can't help but wonder if other players who have committed to Calgary are put off by Tkachuk because of this. When you know someone who is dead set on moving sooner rather than later, how much do you emotionally invest in a bond with that person? Good teams have players that personally bond and I could see this being a mental block for some of them who know that Tkachuk ins't in the long term future. Him getting called out in the players only meeting might have something to do with that.

I can kind of relate to a personal situation. I recently met a parent at my kids school and she seemed nice. They just moved to Canada this year and I thought that was really cool. But then she went on to say that she really wanted to immigrate to the U.S. (specifically mentioned Florida and California), but it was going to take a while to get her green card, so she settled for Canada long enough to arrange moving to the U.S. After that, I pretty much lost interest. I was like, alright see ya!