I know people like to slam Treliving but I'm not going to fault him for negotiating this deal without having extensions for Weegar and Huberdeau in place. Both are still under contract for this season, and if I'm Florida's GM there is absolutely no way I'm letting another team talk to them about a potential trade/extension. The only time you would even put it on their radar is if they had a NTC and you need them to waive.
Can you imagine Zito making this call:
"Hey Jonathan, instead of making an offer for an 8-year extension I'm thinking about trading you to Calgary but in order to get max value I need you to give them a call and maybe see if you'll sign an extension with them? And if you say yes that would be great, because then we might not have to throw in your buddy Weegar in the trade as well."
As for Calgary, they had a small window to try and get a trade done with a very small number of teams. The fact they got a sign and trade done at all -- ignoring the massive return from Florida -- is solid work IMO. Sure there was a little luck involved (that Florida was able to meet Tkachuk's salary demands while also prepared to give up assets in trade) -- it could have easily gone sideways if one of those things did not happen.
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