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Flash Walken · 12-09-2018, 02:17 PM

Through Tkachuk's first 18 games he saw little icetime with bennett, playing about 17:55 per game and producing heavily at even strength. Through his first 18 games Tkachuk had tied with Monahan for first on the team in even strength point production with 13 even strength points.

An interesting subplot this season for me has been the impact of Bennett on the second line and how that ripples through the lineup. Bennett is having in my opinion, his best season of professional hockey up to this point and has been used up and down the lineup pretty effectively. When he's going, he's an easy player to give more minutes to, when he isn't he makes the coaches decision to limit his minutes easy as well. Him being on or off a line hasn't seemed to cause much disruption.

Or has it?

After those 18 games, Bennett earned himself a promotion and found himself skating with Backlund and Tkachuk.

In the 12 games since that promotion for Bennett, Tkachuk has seen his offensive production stay relatively the same, 14 points in 12 games. Yet his even strength production has declined somewhat, with 8 points in 12 games.

What has also declined over that time period is Tkachuk's icetime.

Since Bennett has arrived on Tkachuk's line, Tkachuk has seen his icetime fall to 16:40 per game, but is seeing roughly the same even strength icetime (~14 minutes) game to game.

So what's happening?

The PowerPlay.

Tkachuk scored 6 pp points through his first 18 games, and has 6 pp points in his last 12, even though his PP minutes per game is down roughly 30%. The first 18 games of the season saw the Flames produce the 21st best PP in the league at 17.2%, tied with the Islanders.

In the last 12 games? The Flames are 4th in the league, chugging along at 31.7%. Tkachuk's icetime has fallen because the Flames are rarely on the PP for long.

What does this all mean? The Flames need to find more icetime for Tkachuk at even strength. While Bennett has performed admirably, his icetime has fallen in each of the last 3 games, playing over 13 minutes just once in his last 4.

I don't know what the solution is short of the Flames adding another top 6 player to the lineup via trade, but with just one point in his last 8 games, I think the Bennett experiment on the 2nd line needs to come to an end and the team needs to try every gear at their disposal to get Tkachuk more icetime at even strength. He simply has to play more to maximize team success.

It's fine to have Tkachuk and Bennett on the ice together, but they can't be tied together.

With Backlund out, I think the short term solution is to double shift Tkachuk on different lines. Give him the leash to be the catalyst on multiple lines out there and see if he can help contribute to more team depth scoring.

12-09-2018, 02:17 PM	#1
Flash Walken Lifetime Suspension Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: The Void between Darkness and Light Exp:	A Tale of Two Tkachuks Through Tkachuk's first 18 games he saw little icetime with bennett, playing about 17:55 per game and producing heavily at even strength. Through his first 18 games Tkachuk had tied with Monahan for first on the team in even strength point production with 13 even strength points. An interesting subplot this season for me has been the impact of Bennett on the second line and how that ripples through the lineup. Bennett is having in my opinion, his best season of professional hockey up to this point and has been used up and down the lineup pretty effectively. When he's going, he's an easy player to give more minutes to, when he isn't he makes the coaches decision to limit his minutes easy as well. Him being on or off a line hasn't seemed to cause much disruption. Or has it? After those 18 games, Bennett earned himself a promotion and found himself skating with Backlund and Tkachuk. In the 12 games since that promotion for Bennett, Tkachuk has seen his offensive production stay relatively the same, 14 points in 12 games. Yet his even strength production has declined somewhat, with 8 points in 12 games. What has also declined over that time period is Tkachuk's icetime. Since Bennett has arrived on Tkachuk's line, Tkachuk has seen his icetime fall to 16:40 per game, but is seeing roughly the same even strength icetime (~14 minutes) game to game. So what's happening? The PowerPlay. Tkachuk scored 6 pp points through his first 18 games, and has 6 pp points in his last 12, even though his PP minutes per game is down roughly 30%. The first 18 games of the season saw the Flames produce the 21st best PP in the league at 17.2%, tied with the Islanders. In the last 12 games? The Flames are 4th in the league, chugging along at 31.7%. Tkachuk's icetime has fallen because the Flames are rarely on the PP for long. What does this all mean? The Flames need to find more icetime for Tkachuk at even strength. While Bennett has performed admirably, his icetime has fallen in each of the last 3 games, playing over 13 minutes just once in his last 4. I don't know what the solution is short of the Flames adding another top 6 player to the lineup via trade, but with just one point in his last 8 games, I think the Bennett experiment on the 2nd line needs to come to an end and the team needs to try every gear at their disposal to get Tkachuk more icetime at even strength. He simply has to play more to maximize team success. It's fine to have Tkachuk and Bennett on the ice together, but they can't be tied together. With Backlund out, I think the short term solution is to double shift Tkachuk on different lines. Give him the leash to be the catalyst on multiple lines out there and see if he can help contribute to more team depth scoring.