Matthew Tkachuk’s criticized player has been given the boot from Florida – “Could it be a coincidence?”
The player trade between the Florida Panthers and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday has sparked surprising afterthoughts. Florida sent the rights to Slovak forward Oliver Okuliar to Pittsburgh in exchange for Finnish defenseman Emil Pieniniemi.
Now, social media has begun to speculate whether there were other reasons behind the trade besides purely hockey-related ones.
Okuliar made headlines after the semifinal of the Milan Olympics when the Slovak national team forward harshly criticized the U.S. star brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk.
– They are both jerks. They aren’t actually that good at hockey. They just do that crap, and that’s just their way, Okuliar fired after the match.
The comments drew a lot of attention at the time, as Matthew Tkachuk is one of the biggest stars of the Panthers. After Florida gave up Okuliar just a few months later, hockey fans began to connect the dots.
– Could it be a coincidence that he is traded just a few months after that interview? one hockey fan wonders.
Of course, there is no concrete evidence of Tkachuk’s influence on the trade, and the Panthers have not commented on the matter. Okuliar never had the chance to play a game in Florida’s organization.
The Slovak forward, also known from SaiPa, spent last season with Skellefteå AIK in Sweden’s SHL. He recorded 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 46 regular season games and continued his strong form in the playoffs with 6 goals and 7 assists for 13 points in 15 games.
According to Swedish sources, Okuliar’s NHL contract with his new team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, is set to be announced on Monday.
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