I had heard from a pretty reliable source last offseason that the rumor that Tkachuk being open and preferring a trade to the U.S. that Shane O'Brien had talked about was true, and that Tkachuk made it known as far back as last offseason that he might not want to be here long term.
Now these things are always fluid but it really is looking to me like the Flames didn't like the trade market for either Gaudreau or Tkachuk last offseason. Both coming off years in 19-20 and 2021 that weren't as good as 18-19, and COVID had suppressed the trade market a bit.
I think they decided to run it back to take run last shot with this core - but might have always know this was a possibility this off-season.
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Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
- Tkachuk, if it goes this way, I also think isn't really a US / Can thing at the core. For him I think it's a winning thing. Unfortunately, the loss of Johnny, may have him believe that winning here isn't an option, for a long time. I'm guessing if we had Johnny, he'd likely be signing here, because for him it's about winning. Not saying that players don't have preferences on location, and not saying a player like Tkachuk might not try to get all things he'd prefer (contender, location and money), but in this case, I don't think for example, if the Flames were based somewhere in the US in the west, in this exact situation (just lost Johnny), that Tkachuk would be more likely to sign here.
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I think with Tkachuk a big part of it is legacy, and he wants to have that legacy in St.Louis.
I remember watching that All-Star game in St.Louis a couple years back and seeing how Tkachuk was the STAR, even more than the players from the Blues team that had a handful of representatives in that game. I think from that moment on he's wanted to go back there.