It’s a charbroiled, 12-ounce beef patty, topped with bacon and smothered with cheese and grilled onions.
At $6.95, the Tkachuk Burger doesn’t come cheap. In that regard, the signature sandwich at Stanley’s Grill is a lot like the hockey player that bears its name.
“Looks pretty good, though,” Keith Tkachuk said as the food arrived at the new restaurant, which is named after hockey’s Holy Grail and is located inside the Phoenix Coyotes’ state-of-the-art training center in Scottsdale, Ariz. “I’m going to have to order that one of these days.”
If he wanted to, Tkachuk could order 1,195,000 of them this season and give the folks at McDonald’s a good run for their money. This is the year he makes the big dough-$8.3 million, to be precise.
Tkachuk passes on the burger this time. On this day, the Coyotes’ power forward settles for a small salad with a few pieces of diced, grilled chicken and please, hold the bell peppers.
“I always try to watch what I eat, especially now,” he said. “This is a pretty big year for me.”
You just said a mouthful, pal.
The 2000-01 season is pretty dam big for the entire Coyotes’ organization. A new ownership group, headlined by hockey’s greatest name, Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, is coming in. Cliff Fletcher, the well-respected, longtime NHL executive, also is coming on board. And with them, the hope is that a new, winning attitude-one that can finally transport this franchise into the NHL’s elite-will arrive as well.
Nobody on the ice may be as important in making that happen as Tkachuk, who is entering his ninth NHL season.
If Phoenix is to truly shed its reputation for falling apart in the playoffs, where it hasn’t won a series in 13 long and painful years, many observers expect it will greatly depend on No. 7, who is healthy, wealthy and rarin’ to go.
“It’s time,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t care about anything else. It’s just time we do it.”
Saddle up boys and follow the captain’s charge. But hang on tight, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
“I’m going to play the way I played before,” said the 6-foot-2, 225-pound left winger. “I’m going to play gritty and be as nasty as I can. That’s when I play my best and a lot of people don’t like that. But I don’t really care. I’m not going to put myself in front of the team, but I’m going to play as nasty as I can in front of the net.
“That’s my thing. That’s where I get my goals. Slash that leg and I’m going to start lashing out and I’ll tell ya right now, with the lumber I carry…”
Tkachuk didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. You get the idea.
Entering the final year of his contract,.he’s on the verge of parting company with the owner (Richard Burke) he disdains and, quite possibly, the GM (Bobby Smith) he doesn’t respect. Both tried not once, but twice, to trade him. And he’s determined to erase the memories of another disappointing season, fraught with injuries, distractions and career-low numbers-22 goals and 43 points in 50 games.
Keith Tkachuk is ready to erupt like a Bobby Knight tirade on a near-sighted referee.
“I don’t doubt it at all,” said Shane Doan, who likely will be Tkachuk’s right winger on Phoenix’s No. 1 line after posting career-highs in goals (26) and points (51). “I expect him to have a huge year.”
Coach Bobby Francis doesn’t have any doubts. He said he could tell from Tkachuk’s decision to immediately undergo surgery after last season to remove scar tissue and floating bone-chips in his left knee and right ankle. Tkachuk tried to play through the pain, but wound up missing 32 games.
“Right after the surgeries, he started his rehab and a training program that he never experienced before,” Francis said. “And he was religious with it. He was conscious of knocking his weight down and building his muscle up and it showed in his test scores and in his movement early in camp.
TKACHUK: TRADE TALK ‘RUINED ME’ IN 1999-2000
“He looks great. It starts with your head. Keith is determined. He’s focused. I don’t think there are any distractions as far as he’s concerned. I expect and I know Keith expects to have a tremendous year.”
If he’s as nasty as he wants to be, 50 goals and 90-plus points won’t be out of the question. Neither will 250 penalty minutes. In 1996-97, his second straight 50-goal year, Tkachuk spent the most minutes in the box (228) of any player to have won a goal-scoring title (52).
To rekindle that fire, Tkachuk has to be smoking in front of the net.
“It’s no secret where Keith gets his candy,” Francis said. “It’s right in the slot area. He’s very difficult to box out because he’s so strong below the waist and he’s so intense. He has the eye of the tiger when it comes to scoring goals there.
“He’s the perfect example of what you call a power forward. When he wants to get to the net, no one’s going to stop him. When he wants to get the puck behind the defenseman, they’re pretty petrified going back for it. His game is old school in that regard. It’s north and south, not east and west.”
Dealing with the Western Conference’s bruising blueliners such as Chris Pronger of the St. Louis Blues, Derian Hatcher of the Dallas Stars and Rob Blake of the Los Angeles Kings, Tkachuk took his fair share of beatings last year while trying to hold his position on two gimpy legs. He’s ready for Round II.
“I came back earlier than ever this summer so I could be ready and get out of the gate with a bang,” Tkachuk said. “I did a lot of running and biking and I think I’ve added a lot more muscle.”
And thicker skin, too. Burke and Smith tried desperately to move their best player a year ago, something that still gnaws at Tkachuk’s insides.
They thought they had a deal struck with Carolina for center Keith Primeau, prospect Jeff Heerema and defenseman Dave Karpa, but Hurricanes’ owner Peter Karmanos nixed it. Likewise, he axed a three-way deal that would have sent Tkachuk to the Rangers and brought Primeau, winger Radek Dvorak and a draft pick to Phoenix.
“People get traded and hockey’s a business,” Tkachuk said. “I just think the way they went about it…it wasn’t business. It was personal. There were a lot of things involved, stuff I don’t even want to talk about anymore.
“It was tough last year. It was on my mind all the time. It was ruining me. It really was. Thank God for my wife and my kids, or else I would have been in trouble. I’m still hearing things, that Richard Burke might try and trade me, but you know what, that shouldn’t bother him anymore. It’s not going to be his team anymore.”
No. It will be developer Steve Ellman’s and Gretzky’s team. And Tkachuk can’t wait for the transition.
“I want to be part of an organization known for winning, not for accepting losing in the first round every year,” Tkachuk said. “We’ve got to start a winning tradition here and I know when Gretzky takes over, that’s going to happen. It might not happen overnight, but it’s going to happen. There could easily be a dynasty here.
“I’m looking forward to a fresh start with new people and doing the best I possibly can. I’ve already heard some great compliments from Wayne and that makes me feel wanted and work harder. I’m hungry this year. I really am.”
Maybe not hungry enough to give the tempting Tkachuk Burger a try, but hungry enough, perhaps, to take a bite out of the rest of the NHL and feast on a little “I-told-yotf-so.” And hungry enough to charge at the Cup.