Calgary Flames Potential Draftee: Matthew Tkachuk

The Calgary Flames are poised for a high draft pick, and if top prospect Matthew Tkachuk is available in their range should they draft him?

Two years ago in the draft, the Calgary Flames selected Sam Bennett. While Bennett isn’t a huge player, he is able to win a lot of puck battles, and combines a feistiness with a raw skill level.

Meet the ‘American Sam Bennett’, also known as Matthew Tkachuk.

Matthew is the son of long-time NHLer Keith, and was born in St. Louis thanks to his dad playing for the Blues at the time.

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Tkachuk is a lot like his father in that he engages physically and is an all out competitor, but he might have more offensive upside than his dad, something thats leaving a lot of scouts drooling.

Despite not being overly big at just 6 ft 1 and 190 pounds, Tkachuk is most effective below the face-off dots in the offensive zone.

Tkachuk is able to out-battle defenders and win loose pucks, he also has a knack for drawing defenders to him to open up lanes for his teammates.

His style of grit and skill would be great for the Flames, and could form a deadly duo with Bennett. This could give the Flames three balanced pairings of forwards in Monahan-Gaudreau, Bennett-Tkachuk, and Backlund Frolik.

While the Flames need a right-winger more than a left, they still have a dearth of talent in general on the wings, something a player like Tkachuk could fill admirably.

Tkachuk has been able to put up big numbers for one of the best teams in the CHL, the London Knights, with 105 points in 55 games.

These are insane numbers for anybody to put up in Major Junior, but one of the knocks on Tkachuk is that a lot of his points are a result of crazy good teammates in Mitch Marner and Christian Dvorak.

He does receive a lot of tap-ins and back-door passes, and playing for a powerhouse certainly doesn’t hurt his numbers either.

Tkachuk is also one of the older players in the draft, having turned 18 on December 11, 2015, leaving some to wonder if his draft stock should be lower.

While I see the merit in those arguments, I don’t believe them.

His numbers might be a bit inflated, but I don’t think that makes him over-rated.

Tkachuk brings so many different facets to his game that could help a team.

He has excellent hand-eye coordination and is a wizard on tip-ins, making him useful in front of the net.

As mentioned he is a puck-hound who wins battles along the boards, and he’s also got a cannon of a shot.

Couple this with good speed and a competitive attitude and you have the makings of a great NHL winger.

While he has decent speed once he hits full stride, Tkachuk will need to become a more explosive skater at the next level.

As with every young player Tkachuk will also need to add some muscle to his frame to be able to compete in the NHL.

Tkachuk is essentially going fourth overall according to pretty much every NHL mock draft, so he could potentially be in the Flames range, but there are going to be other great players available at that spot as well like Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The Flames need wingers, preferably big right-shot wingers, but you can’t draft by team need.

Besides, players like Tkachuk and Bennett who blend skill and grit are very hard to find, and very valuable to NHL teams.

The Flames could face some tough decisions on who to take on draft day, but with a guy like Tkachuk, it’s hard to go wrong.

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