Matthew Tkachuk or Auston Matthews?

The Flames forward making case for Calder Trophy

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Published 7 years ago
Matthew Tkachuk or Auston Matthews?
Keystone Press

Matthew Tkachuk is slowly building a name for himself in the Calder Trophy's race, despite being in the shadow of Toronto's superstar Auston Matthews.

The Flames' forward has now 27 points (8 goals, 19 assists) 8 points shy of Matthews who's on Toronto's top scoring line night in and night out while Tkachuk is on Calgary's top checking line, facing guys like Matthews every other shifts.

"Exceptional grit is one of the reasons Tkachuk is trusted by Flames coach Glen Gulutzan with such a difficult assignment for a rookie. Tkachuk already has developed a reputation as someone who isn't afraid of going into the corners and winning critical puck battles" according to Rob Vollman. 

But how does that translate into scoring chances?

Here's a visualisation of how Matthew Tkachuk is driving scoring chance in premium scoring area for the Flames. The red area shows a higher shooting rate in this particular area while the blue zone shows a lower shooting rate, relative to league average. To sum this up. When Matthew Tkachuk is on the ice, the Calgary Flames are shooting from the slot on a much higher pace than the league average. When he's off the ice, the Flames are deeply struggling to get into the slot.

How does he compare to Auston Matthews?

Well, Matthews is an offensive dynamo and creates scoring chances all over the slot (and seems to create chances for his left defenceman, Morgan Rielly) but the Leafs are still doing well without him. The Toronto Maple Leafs seem to be able to reach and shoot from the slot easily. This could be explained by Mike Babcock's system or Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak's quality as centermen.

In the end, it's still hard to say who's more deserving and both players are tremendous for their respective organization but Matthew Tkachuk is probably the best 5-on-5 offensive player for the Flames right now. In a team stacked with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, that says a lot.

Source: NHL.com