What would it take to make Matthew Tkachuk a Maple Leaf?

Johnny Gaudreau has left Calgary and Matthew Tkachuk might be close behind. On the latest episode of In the Mentions, Omar asks how the Flames fallout might affect the Leafs.

Video Transcript

OMAR: It's been a rough couple of days for Calgary. Johnny Gaudreau has left, and went to Columbus. Now, Matthew Tkachuk is in a salary arbitration scenario. So there are a lot of questions. And one brief question I have in particular, how does this affect the Leafs?

Because when you think about it, there can be a beautiful chaos that comes from this. I tweeted this earlier, and I'm like 90% joking. But also, when you think about it, Matthew Tkachuk and Mitch Marner had a lot of success together in Junior, playing for London Knights. Matthew Tkachuk is also good friends with Auston Matthews. At least, when they were draft year, they had some nice little camaraderie going on.

So if we're getting to a point where the Calgary Flames may trade Matthew Tkachuk-- and considering what's going on, it looks pretty likely-- can the Leafs be included in that? Maybe. I don't know. I'm always the worst person at these be a GM armchair moves and who's going to go for who.

I've already seen some Leafs fans reacting and saying, hey, it actually might be a good idea to get Matthew Tkachuk. Matthew Tkachuk is a player that would be phenomenal on this team. Just imagine a line of Tkachuk, Matthews, and Marner. Even if you put Tkachuk on the second line with Taveras, that'd be crazy. But what would that trade even look like?

I don't know. I'm assuming Nylander would have to go. Again, I'm not saying that we have to trade Nylander. But I'm guessing he would have to be a big piece in that. Maybe you throw in Rasmus Sandin as well. Maybe you throw in a high-round pick. I don't know. But I think there are a lot of loose ends that have to be tied up with that, especially because Tkachuk doesn't have a deal, right?

So that's interesting as well. And the Leafs aren't necessarily in a position where they can just throw a whole bunch of money left and right. So would it make sense to acquire Matthew Tkachuk? Absolutely. I think a player like Matthew Tkachuk really does represent where the Leafs want to go to as far as playing styles. He's a rough player. He's an agitator. He scores. He contributes. He's a leader on the ice.

That's a player that you want, especially in the playoffs. Can that trade even work out? I don't even know. I don't even if the Leafs have the pieces that Calgary would have. But if there is a possibility or a scenario where Tkachuk to the Leafs can happen, I hope Dubas at the very least explores it.