It was around the time Matthew Tkachuk turned 8 when a prospect from the St. Louis Blues, Lee Stempniak, moved into the family household. Stempniak was from Buffalo, had played college hockey at Dartmouth College, and Tkachuk’s father, Keith, wanted to help the first-year player make the transition to professional hockey.
That player was of course, Patrick Maroon, whose very acquisition was a pleasant surprise from an Edmonton perspective and whose subsequent play proved to be more of the same.
Ben Bishop is set to become an unrestricted free agent a year from now and will be in line for a raise. He will be nearly impossible for the Lightning to accommodate as Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn, Jonathan Drouin and Victor Hedman all need next contracts this summer or next.
When the draft begins Friday night in Buffalo, get ready to hear a lot about players from St. Louis with at least four potential first-rounders from here in Matthew Tkachuk, Swansea’s Clayton Keller, Logan Brown and Luke Kunin.
Matthew Tkachuk was one of the most talented prospects available for the 2013 OHL Draft, but slipped down to the perennial contending Knights due to fears over his steadfast commitment to Notre Dame’s hockey program.
The Greenville Swamp Rabbits announced they have re-signed defenseman Tyler Elbrecht for the 2016-17 season.
Logan Brown is a prospect with the size (6’6, 200 lbs.) and the skills (passing, shot, net presence, board work plus decent skating) to be a top five prospect. However, at the start of the year, Logan had a great deal of difficulty in giving an effort and compete level to match his skills.
This time around the target is playmaking center Clayton Keller, rather than Charlie McAvoy, Dante Fabbro or Kieffer Bellows, and the chances are that this creative, skilled and dangerous playmaker will be long gone by Boston’s pick in the middle of the first round.
Kunin, who previously served as the captain of the U.S. National Team Development Program, showed off his speed and intelligence this year, widely considered to be his best asset.
And, well, you answered pretty directly: with the fourth spot on our board, it’s London Knights winger Matthew Tkachuk. We know that you probably voted for him because his Twitter username is @TKACHUKycheese_, but he’s a hockey player too OK?
