Matthew Tkachuk, the biggest trade of the summer, has not struggled at all to fit in down in Florida after his 104 point season in Calgary.
Last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Matthew Tkachuk had a FIVE point night scoring 2 goals and assisting 3 more as the Panthers thrashed the Lightning 7-1. Those 5 points led him to being over the 70 point mark.
Matthew Tkachuk set the record for fewest games by a Panthers player to reach 70 points in a season by doing it in just 50 games. He now holds the record along side Jonathan Huberdeau who did it during the 2021-2022 season, funny enough these guys were involved in the trade for each other.
Matthew has 27 goals and 44 assists for a total of 71 points this season. Matthew Tkachuk leads the Panthers in points by 24 points, with Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov behind him both at 47 pints this season. Tkachuk is also second in PIMs this season for the Panthers, putting up 74 penalty minutes on the year only behind Montour who has 83.
The Panthers currently sit 1 point out of a wild card spot, but have more 3 more games than the Sabres who they are tied in points with, and have played 4 more games than the Penguins who have 1 more point than them.
On the other end of the trade, Jonathan Huberdeau has struggled heavily for the Calgary Flames. After a 115 point season last year with the Florida Panthers, Huberdeau only has 33 points in 48 games this season with the Flames. The trade package had more than Huberdeau that went to the Flames, with Weegar who has 15 points in 50 games, but the in terms of the main piece, Tkachuk is certainly out performing Huberdeau, but both these teams look to be in a position to not make playoffs this season.
