Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
We don't know that anything like this happened. Alternatively, in a team meeting the leadership group told Tkachuk that he needs to do a better job of picking his spots, and the team cannot be mud-slinging every night in a long season.
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The schedule and division alignment lended to a playoff style season from the get go. I think Sutter even mentioned the team was not ready for the playoff style regular season and what that entailed emotionally (investment).
Tkachuk is another highly skilled + heart and soul guy IMO. You keep these guys and surround them because they are real competitors. Tkachuk is also incredibly smart (not just hockey it seems to me) and I've seen enough interviews to see how thoughtful he is - not to mention how high his hockey IQ is. So I'm saying he's a smart, competitive, incredibly skilled player. More please.