Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
I love Tkachuk and what he brings, going to be a great player (already is). I think his speed is going to prevent him from ever being our "best" player, but he really has figured out how to overcome that glaring deficiency in his game and still be elite.
It's amazing though through his hockey IQ and everything else he brings how he actually makes you not realize how slow he is (which means he's made his lack of speed a non issue). The only time you see it is on the rare occasion when he ends up in a foot race down the ice trying to get to a free puck that's squeaked past a defender. He could literally get a moving head start at the Red line and 95% of the D men in the league starting from a stop on our blue line would have passed him by the time he's taken one step over the oppositions blue line.
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I recall reading comments from Tkachuk post-draft. He mentioned his skating speed as a weakness and vowed to improve. Because of how late he played due to the Memorial Cup run and having to recover from the lingering effects of a high ankle sprain, I doubt he was able to do much about his skating over the summer. I expect he will put in the time over this off season, however. You are right: he compensates for lack of speed with excellent passing and knowing where to go on the ice.