Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I don't think they underestimated what he meant to the team. I think after successive seasons of playoff failures they wanted to make a change to the makeup of their roster and a lot of GM's seem to be in love with Tkachuk's pest factor. Also they are up against the salary cap and were going to surely lose one of Weegar or Huberdeau in free agency next season so they flipped both of them for a younger player that they could sign for less than what Huberdeau would likely sign for. The only thing I would be critical of the Panthers in the trade is giving up the 1st round pick in addition to the three players but they clearly wanted to shake up their core and we have seen in Calgary first hand that sometimes you can have a good core of players that just can't get the job done in the playoffs. I don't know if they will be better for these changes but I understand why they did it. I just don't think Tkachuk is a guy that has another gear for the playoffs. When the pace picks up he's not a guy that can keep up. Time will tell.
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I agree on Tkachuk. His reputation is that of a Corey Perry or a super charged Ryan Smyth who scores goals from dirty areas - guys who typically excel in the playoffs. But he's much more of a finesse guy offensively (at least right now) and it hasn't translated into the playoffs.