New details on the Tkachuk trade and his new contract.

The Florida Panthers and the Calgary Flames pulled off a monumental trade in the late hours of Friday night, with the Panthers sending star forward Jonathan Huberdeau, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, rookie forward Cole Schwindt and a conditional 1st round draft pick at the 2025 National Hockey League Entry Draft to the Calgary Flames in exchange for star forward Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional 4th round draft pick at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

It was the definition of a blockbuster trade deal and it is likely a trade deal that fans of both teams will be dissecting for years to come in an effort to argue which side will walk away from this trade as the winner. While we are likely still years away from being able to make a determination, we now have additional details regarding this trade that could factor into the decision one way or another.

First, we now have clarification on the nature of the conditional draft picks in this trade. As has become common practice in the NHL these days, the Florida Panthers have lottery protected the 1st round pick in 2025, meaning that if it is indeed a lottery pick that pick will be pushed back to 2026. The condition attached to the 4th round draft selection included by the Flames in this trade mirrors that of the 1st round pick from the Panthers. That is to say if the Panthers' 1st round pick is pushed back to 2026, the 4th round pick from the Flames will be pushed back to 2026 as well, otherwise both of these picks will be for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

A more interesting detail though may be the one shared earlier today by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman. According to Friedman, the structure of Tkachuk's new contract will include a hefty amount of signing bonuses. The insider reports that, aside from an annual salary of $1 million for each season in this 8 year deal, the value of Tkachuk's contract will be derived entirely from signing bonuses. That works out to a whopping $68 million in signing bonuses for Tkachuk over the course of the next 8 years.

This also means that the contract will become incredibly difficult to buyout in the event that Tkachuk falls off as a player, greatly increasing the risk the Panthers are taking on here with this 8 year contract at $9.5 million per season.