Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
That's not the point you're making, though.
The point you've made, is that it's easy to manipulate stats by moving goalposts around. No one scores 100% of their points with their linemates so that's essentially a moot point. Tkachuk drove the offense for that 3M line, period.
As for "carrying a line", that's such a misnomer:
In 2018-19, Matthew Tkachuk had:
16 goals
15 primary assists
9 secondary assists
in 1083:00 5v5 minutes. He spent 9% of that with John Gaudreau, and both Backlund and Tkachuk played almost exclusively with Frolik that year.
In 2021-22, Jonathan Huberdeau had:
17 goals
19 primary assists
14 secondary assists
In 1009:40
Huberdeau spent about 20% of 5v5 icetime with Aleksander Barkov, and last year was a higher-scoring year throughout the league. And one would argue the Panthers had more talent on the opposite wing as well, with guys like Duclair, Marchment, Reinhart available. I imagine the Panthers also had the higher-scoring blueline, from where that advantage in secondary assists (which are typically just noise) likely comes from.
I think Huberdeau is a fine player, but you have to compare apples-to-apples. A difference of nine 5v5 points in about one less game, four years apart, is virtually inconsequential. Huberdeau's scoring last year was inflated by special teams - he had 52 powerplay points and yet that team's powerplay was absolutely putrid in the playoffs. So saying that Tkachuk was "carried by PP1" and not noting the same about Huberdeau is absolutely strange. Never mind that Tkachuk and Backlund started most faceoff shifts in the defensive zone that year, while Huberdeau has been given soft usage.
As for Backlund? Yes, he was a good player too. And yes, without PP1 usage Tkachuk would not have scored 77. Just like Huberdeau would never have scored 115 last year if he was playing Mikael Backlund's role on PP2 for his team. But that would be strange usage, no?
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So are we debating who got the better player or who got the better deal? I'll say one thing, if your only debate is a close call between Huberdeau and Tkachuk, then we absolutely fleeced Florida because Huberdeau came with many more important pieces.
You can look at points and stats all you want but I didn't like how Tkachuk played last year despite his 100 point season. And with his skating, he's going to look like a 38 year old when he's 28.
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