ESPN's Greg Wyshynski recounted the glorious (sometimes ignominious) history of Matthew Tkachuk in playing in Edmonton. Could Liam O'Brien become the face of a rivalry in Utah?
Matthew Tkachuk is one of the most-recognized agitators in the NHL, and he'll be making at least two or three trips to Utah this season with the Florida Panthers.
You could almost call him the "Ron Artest" of the NHL, a guy that can stop you from scoring and score a goal himself.
The Utah NHL team needs a guy just like Matthew Tkachuk -- a guy that can score 20 goals a season and stop you from shooting on goal on any given night.
A name that comes to mind is Liam O'Brien, who goes by the nickname "Spicy Tuna".
The guy put up only five goals and 14 total points, but he amassed 153 penalty minutes for Andre Tourigny's team this past season.
The question is going to be who else can come in and be that aggressor while also providing some depth in scoring? Surely, O'Brien brings the hate, but Utah's got to bring in someone who can generate smack while also backing it up.
(And plus the guy had a kid recently; how can you hate him?)
Liam O'Brien quickly earned the love of the Utah fans in the opening forum, and I know fans are excited to see him wreak havoc on the ice in October.
But can you imagine him paired up with a William Carrier or Sammy Blais in that bottom six?
Whichever direction Utah goes in to build that bottom-six core, they have a pretty strong foundation to use.
And it could soon become their own version of an NHL villain -- perfect.