Tkachuk has been able to get lots of points playing with substandard line mates, other than when he gets PP time.
He,in fact, needs to drive the offense on his lines (other than PP time).
Considering that he's not the leading scorer on his teams, is actually more impressive.
I have little to add except to correct the assertion here: Mikael Backlund is not by any measure a "substandard" linemate, and no, Tkachuk does not "need to drive offense" on that line. I remain highly sceptical that Tkachuk's offensive output would improve significantly with regular deployment on the top line.
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Originally Posted by woob
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I like that the Tkachuk negotiation hasn't played out via the media as much as the Nylander & Aho one did (a function of the hold out and offer sheet respectively) and the Marner one is (a function of it being a Leaf player). It seems like nobody wants to be the first to sign (except Aho who looks like he wanted to get it done fast on his terms by using Montreal as a pawn). I feel like the Flames can probably wait a bit longer to get it done, but will probably want to be close to the final number ahead of signing Bennett & Rittich prior to their arbitration hearings.
Tkachuk is obviously a valuable player to the team and both his camp and Treliving know that. I just also think that it would be hard for the GM to say to the rest of the team that he is more valuable that Gaudreau and Giordano by giving him a higher % of cap hit. Both those guys signed for 9.25% of the cap for 6 years at the time they put pen to paper. I think that based on this the Flames offer is likely 6 x $7.54M which seems fair. If Tkachuk is pushing for less term which I expect he may be given his comments about the Mathews deal, I expect that the Flames will want to lower the cap hit and that is likely the sticking point. We can thank Dubas for paying UFA price for RFA years on the Mathews deal for complicating all RFA negotiations this off season.
Fortunately, Treliving does not have any obligation to consult nor offer explanations to anyone on the Flames roster for the deal he will negotiate with Tkachuk. But more to the point, I think it is fairly well established by now that players accept the reality of the current NHL marketplace: they are well enough aware of how quickly things change, and they can surely see that each player and every team is going to negotiate the deals that make the most sense on a case-by-case basis. Gaudreau and Giordano and Monahan know what's going on; they can see what Tkachuk is presently worth; they understand the current market and the type of deal that Treliving is working to consummate.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Tkachuk has been able to get lots of points playing with substandard line mates, other than when he gets PP time.
Uh
Backlund is not substandard. It's no coincidence that Bouma, Colborne, Bennett, and Tkachuk have all thrived on his wing in the past.
Frolik may not be the best third wheel, but very few lines have three great players, and finding the right fit is not easy; look how many years it took to find Lindholm for Gaudreau and Monahan and even then that line stopped clicking down the stretch.
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Last edited by GranteedEV; 07-16-2019 at 12:01 PM.
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I have little to add except to correct the assertion here: Mikael Backlund is not by any measure a "substandard" linemate, and no, Tkachuk does not "need to drive offense" on that line. I remain highly sceptical that Tkachuk's offensive output would improve significantly with regular deployment on the top line.
Substandard was likely a bad choice of word for me to use. Backlund is obviously not a substandard hockey player.
But as top 6 offensive players go, he's certainly no where near the top of my list of players I want to play with on the Flames.
The Flames have 4 top offensively gifted players, and 3 played on one line and Tkachuk was by himself.
Didn't Backlund have like 4 fewer 5v5 points than Tkachuk this year?
Put Backlund in Tkachuk's spot on PP1 and he probably surpasses 60 points, at least.
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Yeah, there’s no argument to be made that Tkachuk’s linemates are “substandard.”
Tkachuk and Aho face roughly the same quality of competition with roughly the same quality of linemates (as far as the advanced stats go). Where Tkachuk has a distinct advantage as far as overall player goes, is he faces higher Corsi players than Aho more often and doesn’t start in the offensive zone nearly as much as Aho. Aho’s primary offensive advantage this season came in secondary assists. Otherwise they were similar in primary assists and Tkachuk had more goals.
The one and only true advantage Aho seems to have over Tkachuk is positional, otherwise they are extremely similar as far as output and quality of play. Does Tkachuk make up for it based on his grittier style of play and higher dependency in the defensive zone? I don’t know, probably not.
But any narrative that suggests one is far better than the other has no basis. They are two of the most comparable players you’re likely to find. Each with a few distinctions, but overall roughly the same.
Besides Backlund, Frolik has been no slouch in his time here either and has been an overall dependable part of one of the leagues better two-way lines. I know he's on his way out, and there was that weird thing with his agent, but it's mostly due to incoming cap issues than his play. It was a weird season for him with some healthy scratches, but when he came back from those he was always involved positively. And his experience I'm sure went a long way in helping Tkachuk grow as a player.
I think we will be parting ways with him at the right time, but he's one of the few UFA deals in recent memory (not just for the Flames, but really overall) that actually worked out fairly for both sides.
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Substandard was likely a bad choice of word for me to use. Backlund is obviously not a substandard hockey player.
But as top 6 offensive players go, he's certainly no where near the top of my list of players I want to play with on the Flames.
Well, you should be. Backlund has a consistent history of setting his line mates up for success, and Tkachuk is no exception.
Quote:
The Flames have 4 top offensively gifted players, and 3 played on one line and Tkachuk was by himself.
That may be true, but having Backlund as a centre is not some obstacle or detriment to Tkachuk’s ability to perform offensively. Like I said above, Tkachuk probably doesn’t do much better playing with Gaudreau/Monahan/Lindholm than he does with Backlund on his line.
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Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Backlund has scored between 45-53 points the last 4 years. St. Louis' 2C had 54 points this year. It's not earth shattering production, but on a good team it can get stuff done.
Backlund has scored between 45-53 points the last 4 years. St. Louis' 2C had 54 points this year. It's not earth shattering production, but on a good team it can get stuff done.
A lot of talk this off-season has been around "where did Sean Monahan go in the playoffs", but Mikael Backlund's vanishing act was something that absolutely crushed us.
Backlund got absolutely decimated by the Avs during match-ups, and that really surprised me. I think we're going into a season where we're going to have a lot of highly motivated players - and Backlund is going to be one of those guys. I'm expecting huge seasons from the Tkachuk-Backlund duo.
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Aho did nothing but help himself with his playoff performance. Tkachuk is in the something to prove side of that equation.
He should come in slightly less than Aho, no way around it IMO. It is all about term now is my guess..l
Yeah Flames are susceptible to an offer sheet which would pay Tkachuk above market value but I just don’t think NHL GM’s are generally in the business of doing that to each other.
Last edited by Strange Brew; 07-17-2019 at 02:07 AM.
Fortunately, Treliving does not have any obligation to consult nor offer explanations to anyone on the Flames roster for the deal he will negotiate with Tkachuk. But more to the point, I think it is fairly well established by now that players accept the reality of the current NHL marketplace: they are well enough aware of how quickly things change, and they can surely see that each player and every team is going to negotiate the deals that make the most sense on a case-by-case basis. Gaudreau and Giordano and Monahan know what's going on; they can see what Tkachuk is presently worth; they understand the current market and the type of deal that Treliving is working to consummate.
I'm not implying that he would go down to the locker room to consult and explain the deal that is getting done with Tkachuk. I was implying that due to the public nature of NHL salaries and the cap system, it does the team chemistry a disservice if Treliving doesn't at least attempt to keep the % of cap hit in line with some of the other important players on the team who took a discount off their market price in order to field a better overall team. Of course Treliving and Tkachuk are free to do what's best for themselves in this specific case, I was merely bringing up what I believed would be the starting point to the negotiations.
I'm not implying that he would go down to the locker room to consult and explain the deal that is getting done with Tkachuk. I was implying that due to the public nature of NHL salaries and the cap system, it does the team chemistry a disservice if Treliving doesn't at least attempt to keep the % of cap hit in line with some of the other important players on the team who took a discount off their market price in order to field a better overall team. Of course Treliving and Tkachuk are free to do what's best for themselves in this specific case, I was merely bringing up what I believed would be the starting point to the negotiations.
Yes. But I fundamentally disagree insofar as other players are concerned. No one on this team has taken a discount for the good of the team. Every player on the Flames roster has a good sense of what Tkachuk is worth and how much he will be paid. They understand how the League works, and I would be surprised if any one of them takes it personally when a teammate hammers out a good deal for himself.
The players know exactly how this works.
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Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Elliotte Friedman was on NHL Tonight and said he’s hearing that the negotiations are going well and he expects Tkachuk to be signed by Calgary. He didn’t say “soon” but he was basically saying that it will get done as opposed to a holdout situation.
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On a side note, the fact his actual name isn't Dumbass just drives my OCD right up the wall. Like come on. It's so close. They couldn't just add the two more letters to their name so I don't have to force myself to not read it the way it looks?
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On a side note, the fact his actual name isn't Dumbass just drives my OCD right up the wall. Like come on. It's so close. They couldn't just add the two more letters to their name so I don't have to force myself to not read it the way it looks?
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Lately I can't help but wonder if a one year deal makes a lot of sense here.
Calgary signs Tkachuk to an AAV that fits 2019-20 without moving out significant salary.
Calgary then has Frolik (4.5M), Jankowski(1.5M), Stone(3.5M), Hamonic(3.8M), Talbot (2.75M) all coming off the books in 2019 with only Tkachuk and Andersson as RFAs of real note (and maybe Kylington if he can be permitted to take the next step). Of course part of that rides on Rittich proving himself as a starter allowing us to pennypinch on his backup.
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