Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
A lot of people forget that Matthew Tkachuk is half-Canadian. He mentioned before that his mother's side of the family lives in Winnipeg and he felt a connection to Western Canada. He also chose to play junior in Canada. His brother also signed a long term deal to play in Canada. I don't think him leaving had to do with being American and not wanting to play in Canada. I think he was a little miffed about the Flames specifically and figured if he was going to bridged, he would take that opportunity to move on.
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Tkachuk gave a relatively small list of teams that he wanted to play for. They were either NYC/NJ, St. Louis (where he has obvious ties), or teams with low tax rates and very few Covid restrictions. This was the list: Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Vegas Knights.
Tkachuk seemed pretty fed up with the way Canada was running things. He clearly had issues with more than just the Flames. Tkachuk wanted the chance to be a big shot in NYC or play in freedom land.
IMO Tkachuk is likely still a Flame if Covid didn't happen.