Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
This is pretty accurate. Gaudreau has been playing poorly for nearly a year, to the point of hurting the team with his turnovers. But some of the supposed leaders of the team have been extremely disappointing and invisible for long stretches.
People often talk about building around Tkachuk but he goes invisible often and like Gaudreau, I suspect he is more likely to be an important piece on a good team than the guy. It just seems that there are not enough players on this team who know how to win over a prolonged period in the NHL.
Seems the Ward “bounce” was a team thankful to be rid of their ####### coach and we are back to where we were.
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1. All players are inconsistent even the best. Expecting complete consistency from a team or a player is absurd
2. Hockey is a team game, you don't build around one player. It wouldn't be Tkachuk's team, he would just be one of the more important parts.
3. Tkachuk just turned 22. It's highly unlikely we've seen the best from him. He could easily continue to get better. Even if it's just his consistency that he improves on, he'll grow.
I think this boils down to us needing more heart, more competitiveness, more grit, more fire. It's been a need for a while. It's why we dealt Hamilton (he lacked it), why we acquired Lindholm and Lucic, and why the loss of Hathaway has stung. I had reached a frustration point with Hamilton when Treliving dealt him and I'm quickly reaching that point with Gaudreau's careless, scared play this year.
Tkachuk is definitely a guy you build around because his style of play is needed in the playoffs. I think it's why you keep Bennett too unless somebody wants to really blow your socks off with an offer. I think you have to have some gritty, physical players to succeed in the playoffs.