Bryan Little V. Daniel Tkaczuk

rt

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May 13, 2004
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I've noticed a few similarities on paper. Both highly touted Barrie captains. Both had alot of junior success. Both are high first round draft picks (Little will likely be, anyway). Both are roughly the same size. How will Bryan Little be a better pro player than Tkaczuk?
 

Johnnybegood13

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Jul 11, 2003
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rt said:
I've noticed a few similarities on paper. Both highly touted Barrie captains. Both had alot of junior success. Both are high first round draft picks (Little will likely be, anyway). Both are roughly the same size. How will Bryan Little be a better pro player than Tkaczuk?
If Bryan gets hit by a truck he'll be worst,if not i'm 99% sure he'll end up better!
 

rt

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May 13, 2004
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T@T said:
If Bryan gets hit by a truck he'll be worst,if not i'm 99% sure he'll end up better!

Right. I'm sure everyone is sure he'll be better. I'm sure everyone was sure Daniel Tkaczuk was going to be better than he is, he did go sixth over all, you know. I want to know why people think Little will be better. What makes him different?

I'm not bagging on Little or anything, I live in Arizona, and I've never seen an OHL game.
 

Blind Gardien

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Of course there are no guarantees. Anything could happen. Staal might not be as good as Chad Kilger either. Etc.

I used to think Tkaczuk would be nearly a shoo-in to make it too. I don't think his path was going too far wrong... good rookie pro year, he got some points in his brief time in Calgary... but the wheels fell off, and I guess there are lots of people who will point to issues away from his game on the ice.

Little... drives harder and plays more in the danger areas, IMO, but otherwise I suppose his on-ice performance is relatively comparable to Tkaczuk. Tkaczuk was thought of as a great leader and team player in his day too, so I don't know how to reconcile his subsequent troubles and use that as an argument promoting Little's attributes as a leader and character player. Little does seem to be very durable, but he also has a size disadvantage and who knows how many hits he'll take in the pros before he adjusts his junior stylings a bit to protect himself. So I don't think you could cross that off the list.

At the end of the day, then, there really is not much to say. I'm a big Little fan, and I think he'll make it. But the NHL Entry Draft has a Tkaczuk or Bonsignore or hundreds of others who you'll always be able to point to and wonder. I think it underlines the ever-increasing importance of off-ice evaluation and psychological evaluations too, something which most of us armchair HFBoards fans don't have much/any insight whatsoever into, which definitely cripples our ability to really split hairs when talking about the prospects.

I bet that didn't help you much, did it? :)
 

Dr.Sens(e)

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Feb 27, 2002
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The only thing I would add is Little is a better skater than Tkaczuk ever was - something that held him back from being better than an ultimate. Little's skills are also probably considered a little higher end, as seen in the OHL coaches poll.

I think the thing that was surprising about Tkaczuk was that his attitude was considered a strength at the time of the draft, and ultimately turned out to be a weakness,
 

Torch

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Daniel Tkazcuk's case is kind of sad. He had the abilities to have a strong NHL career IMO, but he was rushed before he was ready. Then there were some reports that he suffered from debilitating bouts of depression early in his pro-career.

I haven't seen Little enough to make a fair comparison, but I certainly hope he fairs better.
 

Form and Substance

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Jun 11, 2004
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Well actually Tzaczuk was probably the strongest all-around player in his draft year. He really had all the tools to succeed and was a fairly big player too (a least 3 inches bigger than Little). He ran into some concussion problems in his first professional season which took a long time to recover from. He also battled depression during that time.
 

turnbuckle*

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I guess it depends on who's making the joke around here. I reacted to a fellow saying he was a "huge Little fan" a few days ago, and nary a response. This guy does the exact same (except without humour) and he's getting props. The aggravating thing is that he's copying what I did, yet getting the fanfare.

Life just isn't fair sometimes. ;)
 

Form and Substance

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turnbuckle said:
I guess it depends on who's making the joke around here. I reacted to a fellow saying he was a "huge Little fan" a few days ago, and nary a response. This guy does the exact same (except without humour) and he's getting props. The aggravating thing is that he's copying what I did, yet getting the fanfare.

Life just isn't fair sometimes. ;)

Happens to me all the time. People have a hard time grasping my black ice humour.
 

Blind Gardien

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turnbuckle said:
I guess it depends on who's making the joke around here. I reacted to a fellow saying he was a "huge Little fan" a few days ago, and nary a response. This guy does the exact same (except without humour) and he's getting props. The aggravating thing is that he's copying what I did, yet getting the fanfare.

Life just isn't fair sometimes. ;)
4,000+ posts here, some of them full of stunningly brilliant observations and scintillating wit, and "big Little" gets props? Nah, I don't think so. It's not even the first time I said it on these boards, and it wasn't supposed to be worth anything the first time either. I'm sure a gazillion journalistic hacks have used it a gazillion times before and will use it constantly throughout his career. I'm sure he's sick of it himself. There's no such thing as "copying" something so ubiquitously banal, tb, even if I ever did see your post before (which I didn't). But I will definitely send the royalties on all such future props straight to you, if it makes you feel any better. How's that for fair, then? ;)
 

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