Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix
I think people should be asking themselves if they would trade anyone on this list for Tkachuk. Once it becomes obvious that you wouldn't, I think it's pretty clear who the top prospect is.
Would anyone seriously trade Jankowski, Hickey or... Shinkaruk (???) for Tkachuk straight up?
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Okay, then to play that game, first strip the team roster of:
Johnny Gaudreau
Sam Bennett
Sean Monahan
TJ Brodie
Mark Giordano
Dougie Hamilton
Brian Elliott
Mikael Backlund
Now, which individual player has the most potential to help impact a stripped-bare team? Is it really Tkachuk? I mean, it's fair if it is, but maybe the potential star goalie Gillies has the most ability to help that remaining roster float a la Cory Schneider in New Jersey. Maybe the two-way centreman with offensive upside Jankowski has the most potential to help that team akin to what Ryan O'Reilly rapidly improved in Buffalo. Or maybe the two-way defenseman Andersson has the most potential to help the team like Ekblad did in Florida. Or maybe the shut down defenseman Hickey hasthe most potential to help the team, as Hanifin did in Carolina.
I don't know, and I'm absolutely not making direct talent comparisions because if we had those three NHLers in our prospect pools we'd have a better prospect pool than Winnipeg or Toronto - and maybe it really is Tkachuk who most helps a team. But I do think you have to look at the players' value from the perspective of a team with absolutely no "starting point" rather than the perspective of whether "we" would trade Tkachuk for anyone else. It's hard to slot anybody else onto the roster, it's easy to slot Tkachuk. But does that mean he has the highest ceiling impact-wise + likelyhood of coming close to that ceiling? I don't think it's blatantly
obvious at all. So, no, for me it's not obvious Tkachuk is our best prospect. Now I respect that the vast majority feels he does and I could see him panning out the best, no doubt. But obvious, it is not.