Quote:
Originally Posted by N-E-B
I completely agree with you.
Tkachuk is having a down year and I think people have every right to be upset with him, but he’s young enough that I don’t think his career is going to suddenly tank any time soon. He has shown us who he is for years. A bad 40 game stretch in a weird year doesn’t change that for me.
The team needs a shakeup. I don’t think trading Tkachuk is the shakeup they need. It’s Monahan, Gaudreau, and Giordano. They need to move on from those three.
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I agree that Tkachuk is just having a down year and he's probably the most valuable player in the organization. He'll probably be "on" more often than not in the years to come. I bet he gets 70+ points again next year.
But I disagree with the conclusion for three reasons:
1. Tkachuk probably has the most trade value out of anyone in the organization (Lindholm might have more, but I doubt it). He's the only one who could conceivably bring back a star player or a very high pick. Monahan and Giordano would hardly return any assets in comparison.
2. Tkachuk is a winger. Wingers are much more replaceable. Especially left-handed left wingers.
3. And this is the biggest reason, Tkachuk requires that $9 million QO. I think Gaudreau is much more likely to have a reasonable contract going forward than Tkachuk is. Tkachuk will try to get every dollar possible, and he'll almost definitely succeed.
Johnny's offensive upside is a lot higher than Tkachuks. I doubt Tkachuk ever gets more than 85 points. Johnny, on the other hand, can easily get 90++ if he were playing with an elite center. I know this is just conjecture, but I think most would agree that Johnny has a higher offensive ceiling than Tkachuk. And I know Johnny is older, but I think he'll hardly age until his mid-thirties because of his durability and style of play.
I think most agree that Monahan and Gio need to be traded, but they simply don't have the same kind of value. We can throw Backlund in that group as well.
As for Gaudreau and Tkachuk, I personally would rather keep Gaudreau. Part of the reason for that is that Tkachuk is so good and young that he'll have a lot more trade value. Nothing against Tkachuk.