Wrong. I did say Matthew plays behind Gaudreau. But what you're not comprehending is Tkachuk got the tougher starts and was part of a shutdown line than Gaudreau ever was, and that has always been the case.
Yeah that's wrong. Tkachuk played with Backlund and Fro for the last 60 games, becoming the 3M line. They were the Flames shutdown line and played against the top opposing lines every game. They also had games with 100% defensive zone starts.
Tkachuk his rookie year had some of the best possession numbers in the entire NHL.
You guys are confusing offense with defense.
You guys are talking about how tkachuk was on a shut down line facing tough offensive opponents... But that wasn't the conversation.
The conversation was about tkachuks offensive numbers. So what matters more is the opponents defensive ability, and no doubt gaudreau faced tougher defensive opposition leaving the lesser defensive opposition to play against tkachuk.
The other team sure as hell isn't sending their shut down defensive line against other teams shut down defensive line. They'd put it against gaudreau...leaving Matt to go against a good offensive line, but not as good defensively, allowing Matt weaker defensive competition which helps his offensive numbers.
It's like back in the day with Ottawa having hossa, alfredsson, and havlat on the right side. Havlat often played on a shut down line with Fisher as his center.
The opponents would put their best defensive line against hossa and alfredsson, and havlat would play against the other teams top offensive line. This helped havlat create a lot of offense as he didn't face the other teams most capable defensive players, he instead faced their most capable offensive players who think offense.
So havlat was on a shut down line meaning he faced the other teams best(offensively) yet benefited from being sheltered in the sense the other team focused on shutting down other players leaving havlat to score when other teams are thinking offense instead of defense.
There's a difference between being sheltered offensively and being sheltered defensively.
The claim is Matt was sheltered offensively compared to Brady as he was never the go to offensive guy with gaudreau around. You guys responded showing how he wasn't sheltered defensively, but that wasn't the original claim.