Jessica Belmosto

Matthew Tkachuk had a significant drop off this season. He played 56 games and earned 55 points in the shortened season, averaging about a point a game. It was a career low but with asterisks here and there, do we need to read that much into it? Is Tkachuk due for a bounce back year or is he heading toward the trade block.

Take a step back to a little less than a year ago. The Calgary Flames made it to the bubble. They were competing in the play-in round against the Winnipeg Jets. Hockey was returning after an abrupt pause and all seemed right in the C of Red. Matthew Tkachuk had an unfortunate collision with Mark Scheifele which would lead to retaliation from one of his teammates. Tkachuk was sidelined due to a concussion. A concussion which more than likely lasted quite some time considering he watched the Flames postseason from the press box. All of us remember the emotions from Game Six against the Stars where he looked so defeated. He showed more emotions than any of his teammates and people won’t let you forget that. 

His production was down this season.Five of his sixteen goals came within the last five games. 11 goals through 51 games is not the Matthew Tkachuk hockey fans are used to.  He’d go 8 to 10 games without a goal in a rather weak division. It was hard to ignore when his teammates were on the opposite end of the spectrum. When Darryl Sutter came in, things changed. Every player was seeing less ice time. This wasn’t a punishment like many at first thought. It was to get these players in better shape and not have them reaching for an oxygen canister after every shift ended. Anyone who watched the Flames saw how slow the team was compared to their competition. There were times they looked like a beer league out there. There are only so many times I can reiterate that they were not on the same page for more than 3 games at a time before heading back to different novels. 

Through 69 games last season, Tkachuk had 23 goals. The year prior was a career year. He scored 34 goals and had 77 points in 80 games. Tkachuk had 2 goals in 5 postseason games in 2018 as well. Labeling him a 20 goal scorer would be a fair statement. The only time he never hit 20 was his rookie year, 13 and the most recent season. 

Back to 2021 season. 

Tkachuk was recovering from a concussion. Now, I’m not a doctor but as someone who has had to deal with a concussion or 3 in my life I can tell you that it takes a bit of time to get back to 100%. I never got them from accidents or anything due to sports. I’m just a klutz who hit my head just the right way while cleaning or working. It took a bit for me to recover let alone start working out again. So, hear me out. If you’re getting a concussion due to a hit from a rather large hockey player, you’re going to be down for quite some time. Time doesn’t stop because you’re hurt. You don’t get extra time to work on conditioning. There was no preseason either so his conditioning was more than likely behind schedule. This is just me speculating here and I do feel a bit guilty doing it. I think it’s fair to say that he could have been dealing with the lingering side effects of a concussion. That might not be the full story though. It might not even be a chapter. However, you need to think about how his season ended. 

Tkachuk’s career has been filled with suspensions and really good hockey. It appears that he is growing out of his thorn in your side phase and blossoming into his Reputation Era, aka focussing on hockey. While people may never be able to look past his behavior, others may. There will always be those people who scream, “but if Matthew Tkachuk did that,” or “If that was Tkachuk…” Enough with the what ifs and buts. The hypotheticals aren’t going to get us anywhere and I’d rather not have discourse that results in us spinning around like Buddy the Elf in the doors of the NYC office building. It was a disappointing season for the Calgary Flames but Matthew Tkachuk was fine when it came to supplementary discipline. 

Now, he did have some not so great moments during the season. His less than stellar moments were few and far between. The only moment that stands out is his tantrum when Jake Muzzin threw a puck at him. Which I mean, I’d be upset about that too. In true Tkachuk fashion, he found himself in the center of controversy after falling on top of Toronto goaltender, Jack Campbell. Did he do it on purpose? Did the scrum in front of the net escalate to the point where he fell and lashed out on the goaltender or did he just fall? I truly believe it was an accident. 

There is only one situation where I see Calgary moving the forward. Two words; Jack Eichel. The only reason I would say Calgary is in the sweepstakes is because the Buffalo Sabres are going to want him out of their division, out of their conference, and far far away. They know how talented he is. Why would you keep him within your reach? 

According to Cap-Friendly, he doesn’t have a no moment or no trade clause. The Flames could potentially get this done. 

But why would they? You could argue that Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm are some of the most reliable forwards you have. Throw Johnny Gaudreau in there too because he isn’t as bad as people want you to believe. There are very few players that are 100% untouchable for the Flames and I don’t believe Tkachuk falls into that category but I don’t see the team being in a rush to move him. There is no need to when there are other pieces that need desperate adjustment. Ahem bottom six. Tkachuk is an RFA at the end of the 2022-23 season. 

There is a busy offseason ahead of the Calgary Flames and I believe extensions will be inked. I don’t think there is a rush to extend Tkachuk before October but I would not be surprised if conversations will be had. Matthew Tkachuk appears to have ended his season on a high note and evaded the wrath of hockey injuries. A healthy Tkachuk is a powerful Tkachuk. He’ll have a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove. 2021-22 Matthew Tkachuk will be a force to be reckoned with.