Matthew Tkachuk: 2022 Fantasy Hockey Stock Plummeting Already?

Matthew Tkachuk: 2022 Fantasy Hockey Stock Plummeting Already?

Sean Allen better be shaking in his boots because his biggest call of the year is looking terrible before the season ever started. ESPN has Matthew Tkachuk ranked 11th overall in fantasy. A ridiculous ranking that we have been over at length. Turns out, the really smart people over at Daily Faceoff have taken notice of something I already knew.

VIA Daily Faceoff:

FALLERS

Matthew Tkachuk, RW, Florida Panthers (ADP: 16.3)

“It appears Tkachuk will start the season away from Aleksander Barkov five-on-five, and that stinks. No slight on Sam Bennett, who figures to be Tkachuk’s centre, but we’ve already seen a that combination before. When the blockbuster trade went down in the summer, we all expected Barkov and Tkachuk to be a thing. Well, we might have to wait a bit for that.”

Click the link. Go to the Tkachuk section. I tried to tell you this would happen. Explain to me how it is possible for Tkachuk to come in as a top 11 play while he’s skating 5 vs. 5 with Sam Bennett and Rudolf Balcers? Tkachuk won’t come close to his point production last year.

It’s not a knock on the player. It’s just a reality of the situation. You’re asking Tkachuk to carry a bad line. Florida won’t be nearly as good as they were a year ago. Aleksander Barkov is fantastic and yes there will be portions of the third period where him and Tkachuk are together when the rotations crunch. However, as we have known over the years, Barkov and Huberdeau always tried to break up the lines so they could create a two-headed monstrous attack. That’s the way it’s been in Florida.

I just want to make it clear, I love Matthew Tkachuk the player. I just hate the trade. The Panthers will still be a good team as long as Barkov is on the roster. I just want people to temper your expectations here because otherwise, you’re going to get your heart broken like Sean Allen at the end of the year.

In the site league, Chickster picked Tkachuk 17th overall. If you want to see what the rest of the teams look like, click here.