Former Senators great Chris Neil appeared on Coming in Hot on Monday and wondered if Tkachuk might end up being a third-liner in Florida.
For most of his career in Ottawa, there was never any question about where Brady Tkachuk fit in, but in Florida, things will be considerably different.
Former Senator Chris Neil appeared on Coming In Hot on Monday, and when asked about the Tkachuk story, he raised an interesting question about his move to the Panthers.
Will Tkachuk even be in their top six?
“It's tough because Brady's such a unique player,” Neil said. “He's physical; he plays in your top six here. You know, in Florida, I don't even know. They have such a good team there; is he even in the top six?”
“He might be in the top nine there.”
As a Sens lifer and legend, Neil's opinion of Tkachuk's situation carries some extra weight.
Like Tkachuk, Neil was also a big, physical forward who was happy to accept a fight and would rather go through an opponent than around him. The two men rank 1-2 in all-time Senators penalty minutes, with Tkachuk's pursuit of Neil's record falling just 1,701 minutes short.
The offensive disparity is just as wide, but Neil was a better offensive player than most people realize. Playing for the OHL's North Bay Centennials in the late 90s, Neil was nearly a point-per-game player in his draft year. The following season, he had 72 points in 66 games, along with 215 penalty minutes.
While his was a much different situation, Neil at least has a sense of what it's like to arrive on a new team and the need to evolve when you discover a boatload of great forwards at the top of the lineup.
When Neil got to Ottawa, the Senators were becoming one of the NHL's best teams, and the right wing depth chart was stacked.
Future Hall of Famers Daniel Alfredsson and Marian Hossa were ahead of him, and so was Martin Havlat.
With that, Neil had no choice but to embrace a different role, focusing almost completely on the grinding, physical part of his game, hitting everything that moved and always being ready when a Sens opponent needed to be sorted out.
It worked.
Neil went on to play 1,026 NHL games, all of them with Ottawa, and became one of only three modern-day Senators to have his number retired by the organization.
Tkachuk appeared destined for the same treatment in Ottawa. Instead, he decided he wanted out and asked for a trade to Florida, where he'll have to get used to not being the leading man anymore.
Neil never minded holding a grudge as a player, but he's not holding one here. He understands the reality of today's game, though he didn't sound remotely heartbroken to lose a player who didn't want to wear the Centurion crest anymore.
“Well, the way the game is now, a lot of the players are kind of dictating where they want to go,” Neil said.
“So when you draft guys, you’ve got to really do your due diligence and see what kind of personality they are. But with Brady and Brady’s situation with his brother, hey, kudos to him if that's where he wants to go.
“But we want guys that want to be here and want to play here.”
Amen to that.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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