Some Flames fan site put a Tkachuk article, in which they compare him to Lindholm and it essentially showed that Tkachuk based on a few advanced metrics is a superior defensive player. Now we are talking about 0.1% in most cases; which is all kinds of negligible.
The first thing my mind jumps to when I read this is that twitter-lytics topic that bled into HF where Dougie Hamilton was supposedly responsible for Slavin's shut-down prowess. Devils fans latched onto that while both Canes and Flames fans laughed it off.
Tkachuk-Barkov will probably a duo that dominates both ends of the ice for a few years. But I honestly think that Tkachuk will have re-invent himself sooner than later because of his boots. Corey Perry hit 98 points once and then never came close to that again.
The issue with the Flames is that we have too many players with low foot speed. That's why Tkachuk skating is an issue. His foot speed will not be an issue in Florida because the fastest thing on the ice is typically the puck. That's something that MT excels at.
The quick transition and passing of the puck is also not an issue. It's literally one of the complaints in the Jack Han video of Huberdeau vs someone like Gaudreau who likes holding onto it longer like Kane vs being a relay. If anything, it's a good fit that he will have access to centres like Barkov and Bennett who have no issues digging and holding onto the puck for some tic tac toe plays.
Some of the info is overblown, sure. But IMO MT is a good fit.
Flames on the other hand are going to have to figure out how to retool their puck carrying facet to their group's game. In the past it was all deferred to Gaudreau and a handful of players. Now the group will have to learn via committee or acquire players who will do it for them. I do think the Flames can figure out this minor/major stylistic difference post Gaudreau/Tkachuk, but there might be some initial growing pains.
This team always played to its potential when it let its defensemen dictate the pace of play. Having Gio and Brodie as our primary puck carriers made the opposition defend us a 5-man unit rather than focusing on just standing up Gaudreau at the blueline. It's how the Avs won the cup this year and was the foundation of those successful Lightning teams too.
Obviously it would be nice to have the clouds part and sunshine set in with a high-level centre who could take those reins but we don't and probably won't find that guy for a while. The power needs to be transferred back to our Dmen. Kylington and Weegar are elite at carrying the puck. Andersson is slow as molasses but has a good, crisp first pass when he wants to use it. We're discovering that Tanev and Zadorov can put that on display sometimes. Hanifin is a mystery box who was highly touted for his puck-moving abilities but has stopped putting emphasis on that part of this play.
At the end of the day, I'm not too worried about how we move the puck as long as our defensemen are at the forefront of it all. Backlund, Mangiapane, Lindholm, Dube are some of the forwards who can handle that responsibility too but we are doing ourselves a disservice by expecting them to be solely responsible for our transition play. We need an additional top 6 forward so that we can score once we gain the zone.
Tkachuk strikes me as an odd fit in Florida because of their brand of north-south, river hockey. That could reasonably change with Maurice now leading the team but I think there may be some ugly years in the second half of that term.
