Well Benning originally said just before the draft lottery that he was picking BPA in the top 3-4 and after that they'd force a dman. Vancouver fans decided to ignore that remark after their radio hosts pushed Tkachuk/Dubois for a while but it held up. I have no doubt they'd have taken Dubois if he was there because they projected him as a centre but thinking they'd draft another winger after drafting Virtanen and Boeser in consecutive years was questionable all along IMO. I actually had some classic fights on HF Canucks where I was trying to sell the idea that they had to leave this draft with a centre or d-man at #5 and not a winger and they were all, Tkachuk/Dubois, get lost you just want Tkachuk.
The draft just worked out so perfectly for us. Tkachuk can compliment either Monahan or Bennett perfectly. He's exactly what we were lacking in our top 6. How I view it is that there were 5 elite forwards at the top end this year (Matthews, Laine, Puljujarvi, Dubois, Tkachuk) and if any dman went ahead of our pick we were guaranteed one of them. I felt that if those 5 forwards went ahead of us we'd probably take BPA which would probably be Sergachev/Juolevi. I guess we'll never know who the other person they had in their top 6 was but I'm just over the moon to land Tkachuk. What's funny is that it sounds like we were destined to get Tkachuk as EDM was apparently going to take Sergachev at #4 if CBJ had taken Puljujarvi.
As others have mentioned this feels a lot like the Bennett year where the guy with the great competitiveness, hockey sense, skill and grit somehow falls to us. But we'll take it, he fills a huge hole IMO. Tkachuk's grit and willingness to battle and win battles in the dirty areas will complement guys like Gaudreau, Monahan and Bennett making room for those players and making us harder to match up and play against. He's gonna help long term on the powerplay with his quick passing, hockey sense and net front presence.
Great day to be a Flames fan. Can't believe we get our future #1 winger with size, strength, grit, skill and competitiveness at the same time we grab a cost effective #1 goalie option. What's next dealing Wideman and signing Lucic? Dare I dream? lol. More pieces are falling into place to get the Flames back to contending in the playoffs.
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