Draft Profile: Matt Tkachuk

by Steve Kournianos
03 October 2015
steve.kournianos@thedraftanalyst.com
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Position: Left Wing
Shoots: Left
Height/Weight: 6’1 194 lbs
Born: December 10, 1998, St. Louis, MO
Central Scouting Rankings (Prelim/Mid/Final): “A” NA/ NA / NA
Obtained: Signed with the London Knights on May 8th, 2015 after they selected him in the fourth round (64th overall) in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection.
Notes: 2015-16: Is tied for OHL scoring lead after he recorded multi-point games in each of his first three contests (2-6-8)…Led Team USA in scoring at 2015 World Junior Championship Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, NY with five goals and three assists…2014-15: Finished second in scoring on the USNTDP U18 team with 38 goals and 57 assists, including a team-high 119 penalty minutes…Tied teammate RW Jeremy Bracco (TOR) for a tournament-best 10 assists in seven games (2-10-12) to help lead Team USA to gold at the 2015 IIHF U18 World Championship…Tallied two goals and four assists in four games to tie RW Jack Roslovic (WIN) for team lead in scoring as Team USA’s U18 squad placed second at the 2015 U18 Five Nations Tournament in Kravare and Poruba, Czech Republic…His 79 career assists are seventh-highest in USNTDP history, while his 58 assists and 96 points in 2014-15 are the third and fourth highest single-season output, respectively…2013-14: Finished 10th in scoring on the USNTDP U17 team with 13 goals and 19 assists in 53 games…Tied for 10th in tournament scoring (4-3-7) to help Team USA win the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge title in Sydney, Nova Scotia…Scored two goals and added two assists in four games as team USA captured 2014 U17 Five Nations Tournament in Sundsvall, Sweden…Did not register a point in four games at 2013 U17 Four Nations Tournament in Prievidza, Slovakia, where Team USA finished first…Previously committed to the University of Notre Dame…Son of former NHL all-star Keith Tkachuk…Played for the St. Louis Blues’ junior hockey program, where he led his team to the 2012-13 Tier 1 Elite Hockey League title.

*Statistics through 03 OCT 2015

One of the telling signs of maturity is how one deals with adversity, specifically when it’s admittedly self-inflicted. It was just over a year ago when a frustrated, 17-year-old Patrik Laine flipped Finland’s National Team coach Mika Marttila the bird during a game against the Czechs. He also reportedly issued him physical threats, thus leading to his expulsion from the 2014 Hlinka tournament after only three games. Since then, however, he’s done nothing but crush the opposition while maintaining a seemingly mature outlook and approach. Laine’s become the best power winger prospect in the Finnish Elite League, and all before his 18th birthday. He’s a big-bodied scoring threat with a devastatingly accurate wrist shot and a penchant for eluding detection, so when you combine the two, you get the desired result. From a skating perspective, he’s shown an improved stride, which allows him to go zone-to-zone in a hurry. But what’s been most impressive about his Liiga campaign beyond burying the puck has been the accuracy of his passes off the rush. Laine’s been dominating both his peers and those slightly senior in age for a while now, and by that we mean both physically and statistically. And though he was slotted behind countryman and fellow-2016 draft eligible Jesse Puljujarvi in most pre-season draft rankings, his early-season domination of a men’s league coupled with the aforementioned Puljujarvi’s concurrent struggles should continue to shift pre-draft rhetoric towards Laine’s corner. We think he’s the best winger in the draft, and the closest among any amateur draft prospects to becoming a regular in the NHL.