Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Lime
During the last press conference, Sutter said that the team was playing without a sense of emotion and urgency. Tkachuk is supposed to be the sparkplug on the team. The element of his game that is 'Marchand lite' has been missing since the game against the Leafs last season, where Muzzin lobbed the puck at Tkachuk after the whistle, and the rest of the Flames did not back up Tkachuk's anger at Muzzin.
The thought at the time was that the Flames leadership group told Tkachuk to settle down, and Matty took that to heart. He has been settled down ever since. But now a big part of that leadership group is gone, in Giordano, and Tkachuk is still settled.
Right now, Tkachuk is a very good, producing, top line winger. He is not bringing a sandpaper or agitator quality to his game. To me that is a long term $7M per season investment, which means that Tkachuk will be overpaid on his next contract if he doesn't rediscover his inner Brady Tkachuk.
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May be another leader, a new leader can tell Tkachuk to be his old Chucky again. And tell him that the person who told him to settle down is gone? Just a thought.