I was, am, and always will be a a huge Keith Tkachuk fan.
Even in an era that still had tough, angry, dirty, mean hockey players, Keith Tkachuk stood out. When I first started writing about the sport Tkachuk was one of the guys I most wanted to meet. Well I did and I didn't. I respected the hell out of them, but guys like Tkachuk, Guerin, and Pronger were three players I was most nervous to ask questions to. I mean you try going up to a still pissed off Keith Tkachuk in a locker room stall and asking him, "So, what happened on that play that lost you the game?"
I remember one time during the Finals in Anaheim asking Pronger if he thought his hit warranted a suspension and the look he gave me made me feel like I would soon be upside down in the trash can he was tossing his old stick tape into. You see, here is the thing about covering guys like this: No matter how old you are some players are so large, in stature and mere presence, that you can't help but re-living the feeling you had when you were 13 and your father came home and realized you hadn't yet cut the grass.
These are my kind of hockey players though. Players who used intimidation and their strength in a way that allowed them the respect on the ice to move mountains and change the course of a game, or even a season with a glare. Yes they would occasionally fight, but more often than not they wouldn't even have to.
And yet many of these guys, like most hockey players in general, are just great guys off the ice. Jokesters for sure, but great, down-to-earth people who couldn't be nicer to you. I remember asking Keith a question once a few days before the deadline and him responding by saying with a serious face, "I will tell you that, but first you tell me where I am getting traded to next Tuesday." And then he broke a smile.
So one of the things that made me feel all of my 49 years was interviewing Matt Tkachuk during the Stanley Cup Final in San Jose. The NHL always brings top prospects to talk to the media at some point during the Final. To meet Matt Tkachuk I would first have to fight my way through the throngs of reporters, each trying to get a quote from Auston Matthews and Patrick Laine. Matthews and Laine both were big boys, already larger than life/next generation superstars, who even at 17 towered over most of the journalists they talked to.
Finally I emerged through the other side of the swarm and there stood a kid under a sign stating "Matt Tkachuk." Pretty much alone. Matt joked with me about the fact that the reporters were saving the best for last and he was fully prepared to take Matthews and Laine's cast offs. I talked to him about his dad and his game and the only other guy who came up to us during that time was I believe Scott Burnside...
I asked him how much ice time he expected in his rookie season and if there were any particular teams he hoped to be drafted by and he said, "I'll take what I get and work to get more..."
A great quote, and great foreshadowing for this season that has seen Tkachuk thriving in Calgary and starting to show that evil side that he inherited from his dad. Anyone who watched last night's Leafs versus Flames clash can tell you he's most definitely a Tkachuk. He can kill you with his scoring touch and annoy the living daylights out of you. He can get an entire team pissed off at him. He won't just intimidate you, he can toy with you.
Tkachuk used to be teammates and is still great friends with the Leafs Mitch Marner, but after Marner scored last night he went to the bench and had words with Tkachuk, leaving Marner to do this back to him on the bench...
Then with less than a minute to go in the game, Tkachuk slew-footed Martin Marincin.
It was dirty and stupid play and he should probably be punished further for it. It was the angry side of evil and inexcusable. But it was also the kind of thing Pronger, Guerin, Chelios, and so many others before him did, and it will cement into defenders heads that this kid is crazy and in the split second they consider that...he will be stealing the puck and depositing it into an open frame.
I will be updating the Rumor Chart now and be back with a rumor blog in a few hours before today's podcast which will be at 3pm ET.
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