Tkachuk is the pointy end of the spear,every team that has won anything went into battle with a sharp spear
Player Discussion Brady Tkachuk: Episode 5 - Management Strikes Back
- Thread starter Micklebot
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Brady Tkachuk is exactly what the Leafs need right now but don't have any of "it", even on their 4th line.
JungleBeat
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He needs to learn how to score away from the crease and make some plays for his line mates. Right now he’s looking like a future complimentary player in the top six.
TheDebater
Peace be upon you
He is deceptively fast for a big player actually as I have found myself surprised when he carries the puck through the neutral zone sometimes. He is not a great skater yet, but most of that is due to his size to strength ratio and although he is solid as a tree when standing in front of the net, it does not translate the same when he is moving.
With time and age, his body will change, he will get stronger and in turn he will be much more in control of his body. Right now he tends to fall down alot for those exact reasons but I firmly believe he will become a much better skater in the future.
Once his skating improves and reaches its potential, he will instantly become a more dangerous player away from the net. He has really good hockey sense which some fans underestimate due to the fact he is not flashy and does not have one single skill that stands out. Luckily for us, Tkachuk is only lacking in ways that are more technical as opposed to natural. He needs to work on his lower body strength, practise his shot and you will be surprised at the player he becomes in a few years.
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Tim Stützle
Sens of Anarchy
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- Jul 9, 2013
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Looking a helluva lot better than the Zadina or Wahlstrom or several of the other eligibles at that time that people favored over him,
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Tim Stützle
dobson was my guy. I would have also loved hughes.
wahlstrom at 4 would have been just bad. Zadina doesn't look too great right now, but i did like him at the time tbh.
Agent Zub
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he doesnt think a player who might only top out as a complimentary player instead of a line driver should be picked top 4.
its a fair assessment.
TheDebater
Peace be upon you
Brady Tkachuk is far from just a complimentary player. He reached 25 career goals in less games than both his father and his brother Matthew and both those players are/were considered top line players.
Brady is such a unique player that you really cannot simply label him to a specific category because he such a multi-faceted and intriguing player. He can do it all, and just because he is not a flash and dash type player does not make him unworthy of being picked 4th overall. He had 22 goals and 45 points in 71gp as a rookie, those are not "complimentary" player numbers; to clarify I am not seeing he is elite offensively but you would be hard pressed to find a player drafted outside the top 3 who had "elite" numbers (70+) in their rookie year. Those are usually reserved for elite 1st overall picks like Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, etc.
Here are some examples of forwards drafted 4th overall and the number of points in their rookie season:
2004- Andrew Ladd, CAR, 11 pts in 29 games followed by 21 pts in 65 games
2005- Benoit Pouliot, MIN, 18 points in 65 games over 4 seasons before being traded to MTL.
2006- Nik Backstrom, WSH, 69 pts in 82 gp.
2009- Evander Kane, ATL, 26 pts in 66 gp
2010- Ryan Johansen, CLB, 21 pts in 67 gp
2014- Sam Bennett, CGY, 36 pts in 77 gp
2015- Mitch Marner, TOR, 61 pts in 77gp
2016- Jesse Puljujarvi, EDM, 8 pts in 28 gp (40 pts in 139 gp over three seasons)
The years I skipped were due to a defenseman being selected as I felt it is better to compare him to other forwards and again, the facts tell a different story. Since 2004 there have only been two forwards who had arguably elite rookie seasons (Backstrom and Marner) and no other player comes close to them...except for Brady Tkachuk. Am I suggesting he is on their level, no, but what I am suggesting is that people lower their expectations just because he was a 4th overall pick.
Sure, it’s a fair assessment in general, but it’s not a fair assessment of BT currently, or his potential.
He is hardly a passenger on whatever line he’s on, and he often enough carries the puck into the offensive zone to make plays.
Hughes and Dobson are not better NHL players than BT is right now, in my opinion, so I’m not sure why some folks try and put down our guy while pretending the other two have done anything so far to gain higher praise.
It surprising really.
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Tim Stützle
it's still pretty early but my initial thought has always been that #4 was too high for tkachuk considering some of the players that were still on the board. Brady has been pretty much exactly what I expected, but with better passing ability. It will take a couple more years to how zadina, dobson, hughes, etc progress, but right now my initial assessment is still valid.
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Tim Stützle
complementary doesn't equal passenger. Tkachuk works extremely hard and has great drive.
Your opinion that Hughes and Dobson are not better right now is correct, no one is arguing that. You mentioned brady's potential but fail to realize that hughes and dobson are even further away from reaching theirs.
JungleBeat
Registered User
If Brady turns out to be equal or better than Mathew that would be great. Unfortunately, Mathew is looking like the much more skilled player and is cerebral.
Do you think Brady has the abilities to create more offence? Right now his goal scoring comes almost exclusively in the crease from tap in and deflections. He doesn’t strike me as a guy that can carry his line mates either.
The comment he made doesn’t seem like a fair assessment at this point at all. In his first 82 games he’s scored 25 goals and 51 points. By comparison, his brother scored 15 goals and 53 points in his first 82 games. He’ll need to continue to progress (his balance is an issue given his playing style) and there will be players picked behind him that end up having great careers but I can’t get behind the notion that commenting “not looking good for a 4th overall pick” is a fair assessment at this point.
I wanted Hughes at 4 and he's been absolutely incredible so far this season. Would take him over Brady still but all things considered it was stIll a really good pick.
When/if this team ever gets to the playoffs Brady will be the type of player wanted, he scores the dirty goals and those goals are playoff goals, the ‘fancy goal’ numbers drop fast.
Fourth overall picks are more often not star players and the sens have never had a power forward. He’s a keeper, he looks like a good pick.
Samsquanch
Raging Bull Squatch
LOL imagine how good the leafs would be if they could swap say Nylander and his minutes for Tkachuk. He would change that team and give them a different kind of swagger and a physical presence that they do not have.
Who is even capable of going to the net on that team? Auston and JT are both big enough lads, but your star centermen arent the ideal guys for that particular job....
Like a fighter with heavy hands, the Leafs offense will always give them a punchers chance for a quick KO, regardless of their opponent. But they also have a weak chin, and Im still so far from sold on this leafs team lasting the distance.
The leafs are basically a worse version of Tampa Bay - offense to die for and dynamic af, but lacking the fortitude to get it done when the games get heavy. And the cap issues are only going to continue to get worse for them; they shouldnt have this many holes/question marks and also have ZERO flexibility to do anything about it.
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yeah, f*** Zadina man. Guy was drafted over a year ago, and he still hasn’t done anything. Total bust.
L'Aveuglette
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You have to remember Brady has basically been left to his own devices facing top competition this season as a kid who just turned 20. Put him on a competitive team and I bet people aren't so quick to criticize.
I'm certain in a year from now everyone will realize how awesome he is, even on a crap team.
I'm certain in a year from now everyone will realize how awesome he is, even on a crap team.
Put that into context. 62 top 6 lines. At best you are talking 40 line driver players at a top 6 level.
Tkachuk will never drive a line between the blue lines. He will drive a line below the faceoff dots, he is driving below those dots. Look at the penalties he draws. Nhl d men are already struggling to deal with him below the dots.
Make plays. Score away from the crease. Those are cliches. Here's another cliche "no one cares how you score them"
No one will ever mistake Tkachuk for a guy like Kucherov. If thats what you are looking for, you are looking in the wrong spot
Some of the guys you listed got drafted and went back to junior. Tkachuk went straight to the NHL.
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