Weekend NHL rankings: Who won the Matthew Tkachuk trade? Plus a new No. 1

The NHL served up a packed schedule on Saturday, but the most irresistible game was one that fans had circled since the summer: the meeting between the Flames and Panthers. It was the first time the two teams had crossed paths since the jaw-dropping July blockbuster that sent Matthew Tkachuk to Florida in exchange for a package that included Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, a prospect and a first-round pick.

It was a fascinating trade when it went down, arguably the single biggest blockbuster of the cap era, and it remains so today. Julian McKenzie had the definitive story of how it all came together, which you should absolutely take time to read if only for the image of an exhausted Brad Treliving sitting alone in his office with a beer after it was all over.

So who won the trade? That’s the argument we’ll be having for a good chunk of the next decade because it’s what fans do whether Darryl Sutter likes it or not.

Full Sutter quote and exchange, for those wondering. H/t to @WesGilbertson who asked the question. https://t.co/09CA2zLlcb pic.twitter.com/8pYNnvG7Lh

— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) November 20, 2022

The two teams didn’t help us much on Saturday, playing to a 4-4 tie before the Flames won the coin flip in the shootout. But now that we’ve seen the two teams in action against each other, let’s see if we can organize the arguments on either side of the deal in this week’s bonus top five.

Top five takes on who won the Matthew Tkachuk blockbuster

5. The Panthers won because they got the best player — Put it this way, there’s a reason we’re referring to this deal as “the Matthew Tkachuk trade,” and not “the Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and futures trade.” We’ve all heard the old cliché about how the team that gets the best player wins the trade, and that’s Tkachuk. He’s having a great first season in Florida, racking up well over a point per game, while Huberdeau has been less productive. Tkachuk is also younger, and somehow he’s even cheaper. Clear win for Florida.

4. The Flames won because they got four good-to-great assets for one that didn’t want to be there — Be honest, when you first heard what the Flames were getting in the Tkachuk trade, you thought it was a hoax. Surely somebody had retweeted one of those imposter accounts. After all, the rumored returns had been nowhere near that good. But somehow, Treliving had managed to get something close to fair value in what should have been an impossible situation, if not more. When you’re supposed to lose big and you don’t, that’s a win.

3. Neither team won because look at the standings — Part of what made the trade so fascinating was that both teams were legitimate Cup contenders. This wasn’t the typical modern blockbuster where one team is trying to get better and one is worried about the future. Both of these teams were trying to take the next step. But so far, neither has — the Flames are still recovering from…