Flames’ Tkachuk says brother Brady is ‘definitely’ top-five draft material
DALLAS The original tweet was meant as a lighthearted chirp to Matthew Tkachuk from the folks with the NHL who were documenting the scouting combine, the annual poking, prodding, huffingand-puffing, sweat-inducing initiation of the top prospects available in the draft.
“Hey @TKACHUK-ycheese_, Think you can do more than @ BradyTkachuk71?” the NHL tweeted, posting a video of Matthew’s brother Brady busting out a dozen or so wide-grip pull-ups.
Matthew replied back, “Absolutely not...”
“I honestly was serious,” said Matthew, who is about two years older than Brady. “If anyone has seen me do pull-ups … it’s definitely not the best sight to see.”
At six-foot-three and 193 pounds as of the annual prospect showcase last month, Brady, who turns 19 on Sept. 16, is slightly taller than Matthew’s six-foot-two, 200-pound frame when he went through the process back in the summer of 2016.
And while Matthew, 20, is now an everyday NHLer, a veteran of 144 games, an impact player with the Calgary Flames and a rising star/villain at the highest level of hockey on the planet, Brady is just getting started.
Matthew knows all about this part.
“From what I heard, the process has been pretty gruelling,” said the oldest of former NHLer Keith Tkachuk’s boys before joining his brother in Dallas at the draft along with their dad, mom Chantal and sister Taryn. “There’s been a lot of travel the last little bit with the combine and going up to visit teams. I remember all of that, the month of June was really crazy for me. You come back from the combine and you’re meeting with teams, going to the Stanley Cup finals and flying around … that’s a lot for anybody during a month’s span.
“He’s excited for it, just talking with him the last little bit. We’re excited for it.”
Projected to go in the first round, potentially among the top five, Brady had eight goals and 23 assists in 40 games last season with Boston University (Keith’s alma mater) and has been dubbed by NHL scouts as a power forward who can dictate play. Brady’s bloodlines help, too, just like they assisted Matthew in having the hockey IQ that he does.
Brady is ranked No. 2 among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting rankings ( just like Matthew was) and No. 4 on the International Scouting Services’ list (Matthew was also ranked No. 4).
Matthew figures that is about right.
“It’s hard to say this early, but I would say he’s a top-five player in the draft, definitely,” he said. “I feel like hockey is starting to turn into football when it comes to drafting more positionally as opposed to just drafting the best player. If you’re drafting the best player, he’d definitely go somewhere in the top three or four. But Montreal might be needing centres. Ottawa might be needing (defencemen). I haven’t heard about what Arizona is going to do next. Detroit was looking at (defencemen).
“I think he’s excited for wherever he’s going to go.”
Matthew thinks Brady is NHL ready, even more than he was despite cracking the Flames roster at the age of 18 years old and just months after being selected sixth overall by the Flames in 2016.
He wouldn’t even be upset if Brady hears his name sooner than he did.
“I would be happy,” Matthew said. “That means I don’t have to sit there that long.”
Once an older brother, always an older brother.
“But seriously, it would be a proud moment for me and a proud moment for our parents,” he said. “It’s almost like you don’t want to take credit (because he’s done it himself ) … we’ve kind of helped him get there. It’ll be a way more proud moment for me than two years ago when I was drafted.”
It also means that Matthew can sit back, relax and watch his younger brother sweat it out.
Which, at first, didn’t bother the Flames winger. His palms weren’t sweaty driving to the arena, his heart didn’t beat a little faster as he found his seat in 2016 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
“I wasn’t nervous then,” said Matthew. “But I felt that I was projected to go off the board quick. I was just expecting the chips to just fall into place. Then Columbus took (Pierre-Luc) Dubois and (Jesse) Puljujarvi went fourth (to Edmonton). You’re like, ‘Oh, I was supposed to go higher.’ Then Vancouver took Olli Juolevi (fifth overall) and I was like, ‘Oh God, what’s going on?’ You look at it that way and you think everyone’s looking at you like, ‘What’s going on with you? What did you say?’
“But once I got the opportunity to play in Calgary, there were no nerves anymore. Hopefully Brady goes higher than me. But there will be no nerves because every NHL team seems to like him.”
And what’s not to like? Matthew offers his own scouting report of Brady.
“When he gets a chance to play at the NHL, he’s a big guy and plays a power forward game with some skill as well. He’s not afraid to play physical. He’s got great skill. He’s a way better offensive player than people give him credit for. And he’s not afraid to be physical either.” Sound familiar?
“There are more similarities than differences,” Matthew said, chuckling when asked for a comparison between himself and his younger brother. “He’s kind of a jokester. We both like to have fun and keep things light, but when it comes time to work, we’re very serious people. Once you get comfortable with him, he’s a really, really funny guy. He’s so fun to be around. He’s a dream teammate … his personality is really fun to be around and has one of those traits where he’s able to bring the whole team together.”
It’s exactly what the Flames appreciate about Matthew and how he was able to assimilate so quickly into the team’s NHL roster during the fall of 2016.
“First of all, it really does matter what team you go to and the process,” said Matthew. “I know Calgary, they ’ve been known to insert younger guys in the lineup earlier. I told him, ‘If I could do it, anyone can do it, really.’ And he has more of an NHL-ready frame, already.
“So if I could do it, he can definitely do it.”