Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaskal
I wouldn't say Matthew is "in decline" but lately it seems like the play dies more often than not when he has the puck, and that to me is a confidence issue. To his credit it's actually gotten better in the Edmonton games and I can tell he's trying, but trying to do too much. He is forcing too much fancy stuff. Yes he is a high skill player but really needs to focus on the things he does best, his defensive shutdown/agitator game, instead of forcing the between the legs crap.
I would absolutely take 2016 Tkachuk over the version we are seeing, Darryl would have adored him. He would always, 100% make the right play, the high percentage play. Dumping it in instead of trying to deke a defender wide. Sliding it back to the point to Gio instead of trying to wire a pass through two defenders.
Perhaps it's because he feels the pressure of that contract and the offensive production it implies, that he wants to try-hard the offensive stuff? Either way, needs to get back to base-Tkachuk first.
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The assist to Lindholm was vintage Tkachuk - control the puck behind the net, simple pass to the open guy. I thought this was one of Tkachuk's better games in the last month or so.
Th try hard stuff: I said yesterday, doesn't it seem like the high hockey IQ guys - Tkachuk, Johnny, Backlund, Lucic -those are the same guys who are giving the puck away a lot. Maybe they are just trying to force too much fancy stuff.