"From day one, you could say he was the guy to pick (as captain). When I was there, I was in charge, so to speak. And at 19, he was my right-hand man. The way he plays speaks for himself. He takes you to the heart of the fight every night.» - Stone
Keith Tkachuk's son is a player who has a BIG impact in a hockey game. Not only his talent, but also his presence, his ability to stand up in strong moments, his physical strength, his checkers, his behind in front of the goaltenders' face and so on. That's the definition of an impact player.
I know that we are REDUNDANT with it, but that year, the Montreal Canadiens needed centres within the organization chart, so they turned to Jesperi Kotkaniemi. «KK» has a talent, but he doesn't have Tkachuk's impact and I don't think he will ever have it.
I know it's easy to say after the fact, but even at the draft, we already knew Tkachuk would have that kind of impact.