Matthew Frickin' Tkachuk!

[TheIronMaiden]

Mathew Tkachuk 56 GP 11G 28A 39Pts 94PIM

Wow! I am so impressed with this guys play. Second on the team in points, makes smart plays with the puck, wins battles against the boards, gets into top defencemen's faces, and he makes the players he plays with more involved.

I 10 out of 10 would recommend having a Tkachuk

[Beninho]

Tkachuk makes good hockey plays, I like good hockey plays.

[Moneyhands23]

I cant wait to see him play when he adds 15lbs!!!

Dude will be a force of nature!

[Bingo]

39 points is his dad's 51 point rookie season score adjusted to today's era

put that in perspective. It's February 22nd.

I often wonder if he looks around the room and wonders why other guys don't show up in "give'er" mode every night

[Monahan For Mayor]

Originally Posted by Bingo

39 points is his dad's 51 point rookie season score adjusted to today's era

put that in perspective. It's February 22nd.

I often wonder if he looks around the room and wonders why other guys don't show up in "give'er" mode every night

I doubt it. After this many years in hockey, I'm sure he's smart enough to know not everyone has his compete.

[Buff]

While Backlund and Tkachuk are leading the team in scoring this year, but they aren't considered the scoring line. Johnny and Monny are put out there when the team needs a goal, but Backlund and Tkachuk have done so well this year that they do get used more in those situations. Still, they aren't the go to line for goals, they just lead the team in scoring. Pretty impressive.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by Bingo

39 points is his dad's 51 point rookie season score adjusted to today's era

put that in perspective. It's February 22nd.

I often wonder if he looks around the room and wonders why other guys don't show up in "give'er" mode every night

I think Tkachuk's compete level is just higher than most players. He's a gamer and takes zero shifts off. In a perfect world every player would be like this but in reality few are. It's amazing he's doing all this while starting most shifts in his own end, playing on the shutdown line, and only playing 14 minutes a night. Has surpassed all my expectations this year. The work he can do down low at such an early age is truly special.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

So I guess some of you have changed your tune eh? 27/290 pages of the draft thread turned up beauty quotes like...

Originally Posted by dammage79

Nylander should be #4 if the Flames end up picking in that spot. I get the Tkachuk love but something bugs me about him. He didn't shine playing beside Matthews in the WJC like I thought that line would. And I have this gut feeling he's riding the coattails of Marner/Dvorak and the rest of that stacked team. I'd love to see what Tckachuk could do playing in a situation similar to Sean Monahan during his draft season. Something Nylander is doing really well doing along side that McCleod kid who's ranked top 15.

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Matthew Tkachuk doesn't do much for me either, not a huge fan.

Originally Posted by Sandman

I'm in the "not too sure about Tkachuk" camp as well. You'd think Keith Tkachuk's kid would have more than 16 goals at this point in the OHL. He should have more than that playing with Dvorak/Marner.....

Originally Posted by Vulcan

For an NHL power forward he's small at 6'1" and 195. He can play that game in junior but at that size I don't see it transferring to the NHL.

Originally Posted by saXon

Jake Virtanen 2.0

Canucks fans bragging about his 'grit' and offence that hasn't (and most likely won't) translate to the NHL.

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I was less than impressed with Tkachuk at the WJCs, but I will confess to being biased on this one.

His father was one of the biggest delta bravos to ever lace 'em up in the NHL. Every time I think about the Jets keeping Tkachuk over Selanne (essentially), I throw up in my mouth. He wasn't just a DB, he was a room-wrecker. I have no idea whether or not his son is the same, but I simply don't want to take that chance.

There are plenty of other good forwards in this draft.

Originally Posted by Poe969

I will openly say that Tkachuck doesn't impress me at all and I hope we don't get him. So many better options than him.

Dare I read further?

[calgaryblood]

Would love to dig up your beauty assessments from years prior self appointed draft expert.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Would love to dig up your beauty assessments from years prior self appointed draft expert.

Go ahead loser. Bring it

[Enoch Root]

I readily admit to my original bias against him due to his dad (even if you hadn't brought it up, I was actually going to).

He didn't have the greatest WJ tournament either. But watching him in the playoffs and in the MC, he was really good.

I wanted to get a trade done for Puljujarvi so bad because we need a RW. However, Tkachuk turned out to be an absolute gem. The kid has become my favourite player on the team - he simply does everything right. Haven't seen that much hockey IQ in a kid his age in a while.

Sheer awesomeness, and I couldn't be happier that I was wrong in my original bias against him.

Not sure what you're trying to prove with your post though.

[MrMastodonFarm]

100% changed my tune. Think I've admitted in the past, before being prompted, that I was dead wrong about him.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Not sure what you're trying to prove with your post though.

Every year a lot of people say a lot of stupid things about kids they've barely watched leading up to the draft.

I think the point of my post is that maybe people shouldn't be so critical of 17 year old kids based on gut feelings, hunches, hating their dads, etc. Watch these kids, appreciate what they bring. Try to look for the reasons the scouts have them ranked very high. Disparaging them for no good reason is silly isn't it? Some of the comments made about Tkachuk in that thread are embarrassing.

Earlier in that thread you had multiple people saying they don't want Patrick Laine anywhere near the organization because of a clash he had with a coach when he was 16. How stupid does that stance look now?

I fought a lot of battles on this board last spring because I was pro-Tkachuk and a lot of vocal posters on here didn't like him. I think its fair to revisit those conversations.

[belsarius]

His points per 60 minutes is what really impresses me. 2nd on the team in scoring and barely has 14.5 mins/game. Last night he still had under 15 minutes and seemed like he was all over the place.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Sheer awesomeness, and I couldn't be happier that I was wrong in my original bias against him.

Not sure what you're trying to prove with your post though.

I'm a little confused what FDW is up to, but I'll happily admit to being wrong. It's one thing to not like a prospect or like others above one but no one he quoted was really "hating", that's what I tend to dislike. When someone drones on about why they dislike a player/prospect and/or shows obvious bias. You and I for example were just giving honest thoughts.

Here are other things I said about Tkachuk as the season went on. I really started to like him during the OHL playoffs.

Tkachuk just scored a hell of a goal. Was all heart never give up grit goal, loved it.

(Thanks by FDW ironically)

Matthews, Laine, Puljujarvi, Tkachuk, Dubois... any of those will be fantastic additions to our three.

[Beninho]

It's kinda unfair to fault people for being skeptical of a player, especially when he had been lucky enough to play with some great linemates. What we learned this season is that Tkachuk is also great. I wanted Tkachuk after his playoff performances, he was incredible and essentially played the MC on a bum ankle and still dominated. But I understood why some people were skeptical. I'm sure most of the people quoted will gladly eat crow, all flames fans should be thrilled about Tkachuk. I don't think anyone predicted he was gonna have a 50+ point season in his draft +1 year.

[bigrangy]

Yeah I was so, so, so, so wrong. Tkachuk is unreal.

I still think Keller might be something really special, but Tkachuk is going to be one heck of a player moving forward.

[CliffFletcher]

Elite vision and hockey IQ
Great passer
Great compete
Great in the tough areas of the ice
Able to handle himself physically
Able to elevate his game in big moments

That's a pretty stellar package of skills. Tkachuk's my favourite of the Flames' group of young forwards, and regardless of age and salary, the one who I think emerges as the leader of this team.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Every year a lot of people say a lot of stupid things about kids they've barely watched leading up to the draft.

I think the point of my post is that maybe people shouldn't be so critical of 17 year old kids based on gut feelings, hunches, hating their dads, etc. Watch these kids, appreciate what they bring. Try to look for the reasons the scouts have them ranked very high. Disparaging them for no good reason is silly isn't it? Some of the comments made about Tkachuk in that thread are embarrassing.

Earlier in that thread you had multiple people saying they don't want Patrick Laine anywhere near the organization because of a clash he had with a coach when he was 16. How stupid does that stance look now?

I fought a lot of battles on this board last spring because I was pro-Tkachuk and a lot of vocal posters on here didn't like him. I think its fair to revisit those conversations.

I agree that people make a lot of assumptions about young players without watching them nearly enough but It is what it is. Most people don't have time to watch an entire junior game so people just watch highlight compilations and you don't really see the greatness of Tkachuk by just watching those. Making this a discussion about how posters got him wrong is pointless and happens every year, we are all happy he is thriving and should leave it at that.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Every year a lot of people say a lot of stupid things about kids they've barely watched leading up to the draft.

I think the point of my post is that maybe people shouldn't be so critical of 17 year old kids based on gut feelings, hunches, hating their dads, etc. Watch these kids, appreciate what they bring. Try to look for the reasons the scouts have them ranked very high. Disparaging them for no good reason is silly isn't it? Some of the comments made about Tkachuk in that thread are embarrassing.

Earlier in that thread you had multiple people saying they don't want Patrick Laine anywhere near the organization because of a clash he had with a coach when he was 16. How stupid does that stance look now?

I fought a lot of battles on this board last spring because I was pro-Tkachuk and a lot of vocal posters on here didn't like him. I think its fair to revisit those conversations.

I was very happy when he was drafted by the flames, however, based on the preseason and his first set of games before the decision point came, i wasn't sure if sending him down may have been a better idea. However, he really quickly became a impact player night in and night out.

I'm glowingly happy that i was totally wrong in my assessment that maybe he wasn't ready for the big league this year.