The Florida Panthers sent shockwaves throughout the National Hockey League this past July when they traded assistant captain Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames in exchange for gritty forward Matthew Tkachuk; the two principal elements of the trade have since inked longterm extensions with their new clubs.
Recently retired defenseman and former Panther Keith Yandle told an interesting story during a recent episode of the popular Spittin' Chicklets podcast, in which he reveals he spoke to his former teammate about the blockbuster trade; needless to say, Huberdeau was not happy when he heard the news given the fact that he figured he'd spent his career with the Panthers, and allegedly told Panthers general manager Bill Zito to "f**k off" in response.
"I was with him this weekend in Vegas, and he is fired up to be there (in Calgary)," Yandle continued. "He's pumped."
The 29 year old forward had just completed his best statistical season with Florida, having scored 30 goals and 85 assists for a total of 115 points while helping the Panthers win their 1st postseason series since their magical run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, and appeared to be completely blindsided by the move.
