Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashasx
I think there is a lot Tkachuk can still learn playing in the OHL. He won't have Dvorak or Marner this season, so he'll have to learn to be a little less reliant on elite linemates. He would have a big role for that team.
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I don't subscribe to this oft used argument for sending Tkachuk back to the OHL. I think it is commonly valid for players who are undersized at the time of the draft, European players in the CHL who are also undertaking significant cultural adjustments, and players who characteristically lack maturity or have not asserted themselves already as dominant players both on and off the ice.
Tkachuk is different. He already has the physical components to play at the NHL level, and he has already spent his entire life basically learning in a NHL locker room. He played a "big role" with the London Knights all last year, and I don't see how asking him to go back and repeat the same experience with other players on the same team will serve any real useful purpose in his development. To my eye he has shown flashes of being a driver on the same line with Bennett and Brouwer at the NHL level, and has already attracted the attention of an opposing team. In other words, he looks useful, not at all out of place, and potentially impactful in a short period of time.
In short, I think he should stay, and do not see any good reason for sending him back to juniour.