Calgary Flames: Matthew Tkachuk is the next great tipper

When he isn’t ruffling feathers or chewing mouth-guards, Calgary Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk has quickly become one of the best shot tippers in the National Hockey League.

Since entering the league in 2016-17, Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk has scored 28.2% of his goals off of a tip. That’s second only to Chris Kreider among players with at least 50 goals. In 2018-19 alone, Tkachuk tipped 29 shots on goal and tied for the league lead in goals-via-tip with nine.

Throughout his entire hockey life, Tkachuk has been a skilled tipper. His skills deflecting pucks were even lauded in a 2016 scouting report when he played for the OHL’s London Knights.

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“He has the hand-eye coordination necessary to tip in pucks, and the quickness to pounce on and bury rebounds,” said Ben Kerr of Top Shelf Prospects.

Tkachuk credits the hand-eye co-ordination he refined while playing baseball throughout his childhood for his ability to re-direct pucks at the NHL level. However, former teammate Mike Smith said he puts a lot of work into the art.

“If you watch our practices, he’s a handful of guys that practices [shot tipping] a lot and he’s good at it because he works at it,” Smith said according to the Calgary Sun.

Tkachuk’s time with the Flames has seen him become the go-to ‘tipper’. With Calgary’s roster construction, it is one of the best roles a forward can play. In an interview, 2016-17 NHL tip-in leader Joe Pavelski credited the high volume of shots on goal by his defense core, featuring offensive defensemen Brent Burns, for his ability to lead the league in tipped goals.

Like Pavelski’s former situation in San Jose, Tkachuck’s Flames have three of the league’s top 50 defensemen in 2018-19 total shots, including Norris winner Mark Giordano. The Flames defense core is one of the best in the league. With young puck-movers like Rasmus Andersson and Juuso Välimäki coming, chances for tip-ins from the point will continue for Tkachuk.

His 5-on-5 shot-map shows the high volume of shots around the net he generates, including tips, but it is his power-play shot-map that truly shows the value of his shot tipping role for the Flames’ man advantage.

Tkachuk camps out in front of the opposition net on the powerplay, and uses his 6”2, 210 frame to screen goaltenders and deflect pucks into the net. Anyone who has seen Tkachuk play knows he is not afraid to battle around the crease. This allows smaller teammates such as Johnny Gaudreau to generate more power-play offense from the outside and top of the slot, as shown in Gaudreau’s powerplay shot map.

The powerplay net-front role is played by some of the best goal scorers in the NHL, all of whom share Tkachuck’s for tipping. This includes John Tavares, James Van Riemsdyk, and Joe Pavelski.

At even strength, Tkachuk’s skills, including his net-front presence, elevate the play of his teammates. Corsica data from throughout his career consistently shows that Tkachuk’s line-mates benefit from playing with him more than any other winger.

In 2018/19, Tkachuk’s line (Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik) had a superior corsi-for% and expected-goals-for% to the Flames top line (Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm) which many think is one of the best lines in hockey.

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Tkachuk’s line-mates, Backlund and Frolik, have played at least 50 minutes with four other wingers since Tkachuk entered the league (Troy Brouwer, Sam Bennett, Gaudreau, Lance Bouma) and no other line combinations compare the possession and goals-for statistics posted by Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik.

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