'PROUD OF WHO WE ARE'

Brad Treliving didn't mince words.
The Flames GM met with the media Saturday, some 16 hours after the team announced a blockbuster deal in which they acquired high-scoring forward Jonathan Huberdeau, top defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, touted prospect Cole Schwindt, and a conditional 2025 first-round pick from the Florida Panthers for Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick.

A bona fide superstar, Huberdeau tied fellow left-winger and former Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau - who left in free agency earlier this month - in the NHL scoring race last season with 115 points.
Treliving started off his press conference by going over a timeline of what led to the trade (
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), then gave an impassioned defence of the city and organization.
"A lot has been written and talked about and discussed over the last week about Calgary and, quite frankly, I think the city - and us as an organization - have taken some body shots. Quite frankly, it pisses me off," he said. "This is a wonderful community. I think anybody that lives here is privileged to live in a wonderful community. We've got a team that is, I thought, a top team in the league, a team that's competing every year to be a Stanley Cup champion and we're going to continue to do that. So people have the right to choose and pick where they may want to go or may not want to go. But as a community, as an organization, we do not have to apologize for anything.
"We're proud of who we are, we're proud of the community that we work and live in. And the people that work here and play here are tremendously proud to be living here and working for and playing for the organization. So I just want to state that. You know, those are things that we're proud of, and … we will never apologize for the community that we're in."

Treliving said the plan heading into the summer was to re-sign both Gaudreau and Tkachuk but when that didn't work out, he focused on what he could do to improve a team that finished second in the Western Conference last season before falling to the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the playoffs.
"We're not the first team to deal with issues," he said. "We're not the last one to deal with issues. We're going to deal with it as part of the job. It has been challenging, I would say in terms of the circumstances. But you deal with the hand that you're dealt, and you just do the very, very best you can. And that's what we've tried to do throughout this process."
Both Huberdeau and Weegar will speak with media tomorrow. Check back to Flames.com and our social channels for full coverage.
"I think we've got an elite player that we've returned in Huberdeau; second in the league in scoring, he's been a top player throughout his career in the league," explained Treliving. "I think he's one of the premier forwards in the league, not only what he does with the ability to make other players around him better. He's dynamic. He's competitive.
"We've added MacKenzie Weegar, who many people may not know. This player we believe is a top-pairing defenceman. To me … he's just really at the prime of his career, was the right-shot defenceman who played on the left side last year, the last two years primarily in the top pair for the President's Cup champions last year. We think this guy makes our team a lot better today.
"We like the player that we got in Cole Schwindt. And, like I said, we think he's a really good young prospect, and we've got a future pick. So that's what it does for us today. We're certainly aware of the circumstances around both players (Huberdeau and Weegar) contractually. We're going to be speaking with their agents. I have already at the time that this trade took place. But a lot has happened the last 24 hours. Gonna let everybody take a deep breath. And we'll continue to move forward here."

Treliving was asked about the feeling among his players when the news broke.
"Well, certainly, you talk to some of the players and at the end of the day, you know, players are competitive, they want to win, they understand if players don't want to be here, that's their choice," he said. "And so you have to deal with it. Certainly, we got a lot of text messages last night from guys that were excited about the people that are coming in, the backgrounds, their abilities, how they can help our team, so you know, certainly our group was excited. They've reached out to both the players last night, brought them in ... we've got a special group that way. It's a tight-knit group.
"So, our guys were pretty excited last night."
He also thanked Tkachuk and his agent for working with the Flames to facilitate the deal.
"I want to thank Matthew, you know, I've got a strong relationship with Matthew, we drafted him as an 18-year-old player, we saw him grow up in this organization," he said. "You know, he's been a special guy to this organization. He made the decision to move on. I appreciate his honesty and I appreciate him coming to that decision."