He hasn’t been performing as well as I think he can. However, I believe a few freak seasons set the bar higher than realistic for Tkachuk. To me, I’ve always seen him as a Dustin Brown comparable (With more offensive flair). You certainly want the guy on your team, he can be leader, he gets into the dirty areas, and he can score and should be on power play as he is. But he isn’t going to be the best forward on the team, he’s much more like a high end role player. I’m hardly concerned about his qualifying offer number because I don’t see anyway he and his agent think that’s a smart play. He isn’t worth $9mil per, even in a pre-flat cap situation.
I hope he can get back to where he was, bringing what he does best. And I hope they can work out a multi year deal at an appropriate cap hit. He’s a guy you want around in my opinion, but he isn’t going to put up 70+ points every season.
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