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Originally Posted by Flash Walken
When the Flames were terrible, yes, as Iginla went so did the flames. But when the Flames were viable contenders, there was more than one guy. When they added Kipper, the team went from a non playoff team with a 50 goal scorer, to a playoff team with a 50 goal scorer. And when Iginla struggled, the Flames had a backstop. During both of their tenures, Kipper was arguably as important than Iginla.
The team makeup is different than when Iginla was here, but Tkachuk is the second best offensive player on the roster. The Flames are absolutely dependent on him to be in contention...
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I still think that is debatable. At worst, it's completely false. Tkachuk is probably the second or third best offensive player on the team with Monahan, but that is just one aspect of how the game is played and won. You set a lot of emphasis on Kiprusoff’s importance to Iginla’s Flames as an appropriate analogue for gauging Tkachuk’s value, but I think this is disingenuous, because Kiprusoff had NOTHING to do with offense. Giordano is a better player than Tkachuk, and he is much more important to the team. Monahan is the Flames’s top-line centre, and easily more important to the team. Lindholm is a more well rounded player than Tkachuk, and is arguably just as important to the team. Tkachuk might be the second best offensive player for the Flames, but he is NOT the second best player, nor is he the second most important player on the roster.
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If you subtract his 77 points last year or his 30+ goals, where is the team at in the standings? You just don't replace that offensive output with hardwork and backchecking.
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They probably don’t win the Division, but I don’t think there is any doubt that the Flames would still be a playoff team. In Tkachuk’s absence his total production does not completely disappear. It is reduced by whatever is lost in his replacement: Backlund turned Joe Colborne into a 20-goal scorer, and helped Bennett to a career-high of 0.5 pts/GP in his rookie season. I am fairly confident that whomever is playing in his spots will produce. Of course Tkachuk will be missed, but not nearly as much as you suggest.
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There's a reason a team with prime monahan and Gaudreau and backlund and Giordano struggled to make the playoffs: alone, they aren't enough.
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Yes, and it was not a problem that Tkachuk resolved on his own. There were additional player acquisitions (Lindholm, Hanifin, Ryan, Hamonic, Andersson, Smith, Rittich) and behind the bench changes which culminated in what happened last year.
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Nylander is what, the 5th best offensive player on his team? It's not even close to the same thing about who needs who more. The Flames NEED Tkachuk.
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Behind Matthews, Marner and Tavares. Who else? Since Tkachuk’s importance to the team is limited by other factors than mere offense, then yes, it is in fact closer to missing Nylander than it is to missing Iginla. Subtracting Tkachuk is not nearly as devastating as subtracting Gaudreau, Monahan, Giordano, or possibly even Lindholm or Backlund.
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