Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
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.
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100% agree. I think this is what Sutter refers to as it not being about effort level but learning to play as a group.
Based on Tkachuk's comments before the last Edmonton blowout, I sort of wonder if previous coaches put more emphasis on someone having to "be the guy who takes the reins", looking for "big game players" and people who "step up in big moments" rather than looking at it as the whole team needing to do it together.
Actually thinking about it, the old comment about Tkachuk being responsible for dragging the team into the game is a bit of a weird thing to rely on him for and sort of a bad message to him and the team. Yes you need motivators but it's a lot of responsibility for a young player to take on night in and night out, especially when the team is losing.