Quote:
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 as 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. 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. 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.
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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Tkachuk is the third best offensive player on the flames by statistical metrics.
Sean Monahan had a higher p/60 while having more defensive zone starts in less games than Matty last season.
Mony always getting slept on round here!!
I also disagree with the bolded- Monahan, Gaudreau, and Backlund are superior players to back then. One could also argue that Gio is playing much better now than he was then.
I don't think we need Tkachuk. He definitely makes us a much harder club to play against. But we don't need him to win games. IT has to make sense for us $ wise, otherwise you let him think about how much money he is losing.