Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinny01
He is still over a ppg. He is on a cool streak but still is on pace for 85pts as a 20/21 year old. Better than Monahan, Gaudreau etc at the same age.
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Gaudreau at age 21 was 2nd on this team at 29th in the NHL in scoring. Hudler was a fair bit ahead of him at 8th but most of us felt that was an anomaly as Gaudreau tended to be the better play driver while Hudler got his stick on a lot of tips that year and by most accountd overperformed.
Tkachuk at age 21 is, give-or-take, 4th on this team 27th in the NHL in scoring. Gaudreau is way ahead on the team at 4th and has a legitimate shot at the Art Ross if he heats up again.
I'm not sure Tkachuk is or has been "better" than Gaudreau at the same age. First of all there's an entire line soaking up the top matchups. I'd wager Gaudreau was already seeing top pairings by the end of November in his 21yo season. Tkachuk sees mostly second pairs. Next there's the whole thing about four other PPG players on this roster who all play on the same PP unit as Tkachuk. Tkachuk is a vital part of that PP but when everyone is scoring, it tends to diminish the value of every individual.
But I do think objectively speaking the fact that Tkachuk is over a PPG and in the 27-30 range in scoring, while Gaudreau had 64pts and finished 29th, should highlight the difference in scoring this year vs 2015.