The suggestion that Matthew Tkachuk’s refusal to sign long term with the Calgary Flames is at all similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs may face with Auston Matthews is way off the mark.
When former Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk informed the club he would not sign a long term extension, Sportsnet reporter Eric Francis was a guest on Sportsnet 590 THE FAN in Toronto and made a pretty strong claim about Auston Matthews’ future with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Auston Matthews is going to be in this exact same position as Matthew Tkachuk next summer,” he said. “I know nobody wants to think about it and I know nobody wants to talk about it, but I’d be willing to bet you guys a sizeable amount of money that Auston Matthews is not resigning with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“He’s going stateside like Johnny Gaudreau, like Matthew Tkachuk, like other guys around the league. I may be wrong on this because I’m not tight with Auston Matthews but I see he’s very similar to Gaudreau and Tkachuk. To me, he’s going to want to go to the States. Warmer weather. Closer to friends. No more border. The COVID border issue was an issue with a lot of players. I think he’s going to want to go where there is more exposure where he can make a bigger impact on the game.”
On Friday, Tkachuk was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Florida Panthers in exchange for forward Jonathan Huberdeau, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick.
Matthews has two years remaining on a deal with the Maple Leafs that carries an average annual value of $11,640,250. He’s eligible to sign an extension with the club as soon as July 1, 2023. Any real dialogue about the possibility can’t start until we arrive at that date.
But the mere notion that Tkachuk and Matthews’ situation are similar is a tad ridiculous.
Yes, Tkachuk and Matthews are both American hockey players. Granted there may be some convenient advantages to playing down south. There’s a massive gaping hole in Francis’ argument:
Playing and earning a living in Calgary compared to Toronto is nowhere near the same experience.
The Arena situation
The Scotiabank Saddledome is the most dated arena in the NHL. Although Madison Square Garden is older, that legendary building has undergone a massive renovation over the last 10 years that made it among the best in the league. While the Saddledome is great for fans and the energy in the building is fantastic, the building’s roof (shaped like a saddle) has actually prevented them from attracting world-class entertainment due to its inability to handle certain stage and equipment setups.
If you are a player who has an off day and wants to see one of your favourite acts perform, they are likely skipping Calgary on their tour and probably going three hours up the road to Edmonton to Rogers Arena.
Outside of the near $40 million in repairs needed for the roof that are likely never to happen, the city needs a new arena altogether and the local city council has no appetite to commit any funds toward that project at this time.
Meanwhile in Toronto, Scotiabank Arena has been around since 1999 and has had no issue attracting big-name acts. As far as sports, there’s plenty of that you would normally get stateside with the exception of NFL football and collegiate sports.
The City
With a metropolitan population of over 1.6 million, Calgary is certainly growing, but Toronto remains the economic engine of Canada with over 6.3 million people. With that comes the reputation of being the most cosmopolitan and multicultural cities in the world. From a worldwide marketing perspective, playing in Toronto holds more cache than Calgary.
The Ability to Win
It’s hard to look at these situations in a vaccum because Tkachuk’s situation wasn’t that. The Flames had a great regular season by winning the Pacific Division with a 50-21-11 record. But there was the disappointment of bowing out in the second round to the Edmonton Oilers. Before that, the Flames narrowly escaped being upset by the Dallas Stars. They needed an overtime goal in Game 7 to advance after getting absolutely goalied for most of the series by the outstanding play of netminder Jake Oettinger.
For reasons really only known to the American-born Gaudreau, he walked in free agency and signed a long-term deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. That left Tkachuk to wonder what his next steps were. You can understand the hesitation there.
In Matthews’ case, he will be the first domino to drop in determining Toronto’s future beyond the 2023-24 season. After several years of opening-round playoff disappointment, this upcoming season will be crucial for both the Leafs and the reigning Hart Trophy winner.
The Money
The Calgary Flames had reportedly offered Gaudreau the most amount of money but he bolted stateside anyway. If Matthews’ is motivated by money, there are a few other franchises that can offer the Arizona native the bank. Outside the obvious eighth year advantage, you’d be hard pressed to find many other markets that could pay Matthews in the level of endorsement deals that Toronto can offer.
You may recall the Maple Leafs’ failed pitch to Steven Stamkos in 2016 when they brought in the CEO of Canadian Tire. Shortly after that meeting, Stamkos elected to re-sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning. While that may have overwhelmed the Canadian, that kind of flex is worth noting to the level of endorsement money that can be thrown at hockey players in the sports’ hottest market compared to anywhere else.
Family/Resources/Weather
Yes, playing down south may provide some weather advantages and Matthews can be closer to family if he went to California or Arizona. But Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment have proven time and time again that they can be more accommodating than most in this situation. This is the same parent company that provided former Toronto Raptor Vince Carter the use of a private plane to attend his college graduation on the same day as a crucial playoff game in 2001. Forget how you may have felt about the ethics behind that, but it’s something the organization was able to accommodate. MLSE’s soccer team — Toronto FC — just lured Italian footballer Lorenzo Insigne to sign the most lucrative contract in Major League Soccer history. Calgary Sports and Entertainment is simply not at the scale of that of the Maple Leafs’ ownership.
Nobody knows what Matthews’ future is beyond the next two seasons. Could he depart Toronto after the end of the 2023-24 season? Sure. But if he does, it’s not going to be a similar situation to what Calgary experienced with Gaudreau and Tkachuk. Did the Canadian COVID lockdown suck? Sure. Is there evidence to suggest it’s going to happen again? That part isn’t as clear as there seems to be a lack of appetite to go through that again. That’s another part of Francis’ argument here.
If Auston Matthews leaves Toronto, it’ll be his choice and there will be various factors that lead to the decision, but the suggestion that because it happened in Calgary it will also happen in Toronto is undeniably false. They are nowhere close to being the same situation.