The Calgary Flames' roster underwent what can only be described as a truly shocking transformation during the offseason as many of the organizations core players were shipped out and replaced with a new set of bonafide National Hockey League stars.
The drastic changes to the Flames roster were largely motivated by a pair of decisions from their former players, with former Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau opting to leave as an unrestricted free agent, and former Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk demanding a trade that resulted in him being dealt to the Florida Panthers.
No doubt the moves made by Flames general manager Brad Treliving over the course of the summer will be dissected for years to come, but the reality is that we may not even have all the details just yet on why all of this transpired so suddenly.
Recently we were given a bit of a hint in that regard when Calgary Flames forward Adam Ruzicka let a little of nugget information slip during an interview that was conducted in Slovakian. According to the comments made by Ruzicka during an interview that was done on the podcast hosted by former NHLers Marian Gaborik and Boris Valabik, the real reason behind Tkachuk's departure would have been related to the captaincy of the Calgary Flames roster.
"I don’t know what else played a role there but he really insisted on becoming a captain and I think they couldn’t fulfill that request which played a big role in him leaving," said Ruzicka during the interview.
The claim that Tkachuk would have demanded the captaincy so fiercely that he would later demand a trade over being denied it certainly comes as a surprise, especially when you consider the fact that many believed he was among the frontrunners for the role to begin with. But if the Flames did indeed have a different vision for the direction of their team, and by extension their leadership group, it could help explain why the trade with the Panthers came together so quickly.
I suspect that Adam Ruzicka will be facing more than a few questions regarding his comments in this interview once training camp gets underway.
