Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Ferland is the best defensive winger on this roster. Tkachuk won't be unseating his role. As important as offense is, you need a guy who can bring that polished shutdown element to your top nine.
Bouma will likely play fourth line. Tkachuk won't play fourth line otherwise he will be sent down. Teams don't want prospects grinding away in a limited minutes energy role, unless they're Garnet Hathaway - grinder prospects.
Mangiapane and Tkachuk put up almost identical stats in the same league last year, except Mangiapane was a better goal scorer. Size may be an issue, but it also may not be. Both players are likely raw as two-way players though, regardless of "size". We want to send Mangiapane down to Stockton to develop his all-around game yet we are applying a double standard to Tkachuk because he is a higher draft pick. Even if Tkachuk is expected to be long term better, that doesn't mean he wouldn't benefit from developing in the minors.
And Shinkaruk is the most polished among the higher ceiling prospects. He's a third year pro who will probably come into camp as quick and strong as he has ever been. We subtracted a winger who gave us a prorated 53pts (lockout season), 54, 76, and a prorated 54 points (deadline trade) the last three seasons. If you're betting on someone in the system to fill the hole left by losing a 54+ point winger, 22 year old Shinkaruk, not 19YO Tkachuk, is your best bet short term.
I certainly don't think there is necessarily a spot just waiting for Tkachuk. He will have to prove he can outscore Jankowski, Pribyl, Shinkaruk and Mangiapane.
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All very reasonable. I definitely agree with how you look at Ferland as well. It;s a shame that Jooris was let go also.
We can probably all agree that Ferland and Bouma probably aren't best suited for 2nd line minutes. I think we are all hoping that one of the kids steps up and grabs that 2LW spot so that Ferland and Bouma can play in their effective roles. Lesser players than Tkachuk have been able to play #2LW in their draft+1 season. We shouldn't forget that Tkachuk is a late birthday, he's basically a whole season of hockey older than Sam Bennett when he was drafted, so I think it would be reasonable to suggest that he could provide roughly what Bennett was able to last season.
Mangiapane and Tkachuk are a similar caliber of player for this upcoming season, so it could be AM's spot as well. Shinkaruk is supposed to have all this talent and he could potentially do it also. I see at least one of these three making the team full time, and if I had to bet I'd say it would be Shinkaruk, with Tkachuk a very close second.