"I want to be here for the rest of my career," Tkachuk said Monday, three days after he was
acquired by the Panthers in a trade
with the Flames for forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.
"I'm 24 [years old] and I had six unbelievable years in Calgary, and that was the best place for me to be at at the time. Looking ahead, I've signed for eight years, but in my mind, I'm here for eight-plus."
Tkachuk, who was a restricted free agent, signed an eight-year contract with Calgary before he was traded. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Tkachuk had an NHL career-high 104 points (42 goals, 62 assists) in 82 games last season and led the Flames with 12 power-play goals and 29 power-play points. His 62 assists, 104 points, 75 even-strength points and 26 multipoint games each ranked second on Calgary, and his 17 multiassist games were tied for the fifth-most by a Flames player in one season in their history.
Following the regular season, Tkachuk was named to the NHL Second All-Star Team.
In 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games, Tkachuk had 10 points (four goals, six assists), including his first NHL playoff hat trick in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers. The Flames (50-21-11) won the Pacific Division but were eliminated by the Oilers in five games.
"It wasn't something that, during the process of evaluation, that we would even fathom could be possible: a 24-year-old, a 100-point guy who's tough as nails," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said Monday of Tkachuk's availability.
"When you have the ability to get this type of asset and add this to this young core that's growing together -- and it's not a secret that some of the attributes that Matthew brings are areas of the game that we could use collectively in our group -- when that materialized as a reality, and rather quickly, we had to decide rather quickly this was something to pursue."
Florida won the Presidents' Trophy last season as the team with the best regular-season record in the NHL (58-18-6). But after winning a playoff series for the first time since 1996, defeating the Washington Capitals in six games in the Eastern Conference First Round, the Panthers were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
Tkachuk said he believes the Panthers are ready to break through, though.
"When I made the list, first and foremost, it was winning, but not just winning now, it was winning in the future," he said. "If I keep hearing about the past [here], I'm going to lose my mind. I know some of the players are unhappy with the way things have gone the last few years, too, and I wasn't a part of it, but I don't want to keep hearing about that.
"I want to worry about the future here. The team, all the guys are my age to 28, 29, or the majority of us are. That was first and foremost a very attractive part for me is the win-now mode and win in the future."
Tkachuk is already embracing the Florida lifestyle in more ways than one. For the first seven years of his NHL career, he lived for Battle of Alberta games against the Oilers, the Flames provincial rival. Now, he has turned his attention to the burgeoning Battle of Florida between the Panthers and Lightning, which has featured playoff meetings in each of the past two seasons.
"I said earlier, I hate Edmonton, but I hate Tampa [Bay] more now," he said. "I'm excited for those games. They're the team to beat right now. For us, we're going to have to go through them at some point, so I'm excited for that challenge."
