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.
|
I don’t know if sandpaper and agitation should even be qualifiers for bumping up pay. To me, it’s wins vs losses. Does said player help this team win and by how much? That’s what should determine value to the team. You also just mentioned Matthew should rediscover his Brady Tkachuk, but Brady Tkachuk’s team is one of the worst in the league. So how much is Brady’s sandpaper/agitation really helping his team?
Matthew is worth well over $7M. He’s on one of the best, if not the very best 2 way lines in the league. Their goals scored to goals allowed ratio is pretty bonkers this deep into the season. They basically score 3 goals to every one goal allowed. They’re the only reason why this team isn’t sitting 32nd in the league standings. That’s worth a lot of money right there as other GMs know this too.