When Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn looks at Matthew Tkachuk, he can see why people might compare the Calgary Flames star to his teammate, Corey Perry.
That’s something that a lot of people are doing these days as the Stars and Flames prepare to face off in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The puck drops for Game 1 on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
“They’re high-end players that can score and really do everything out there, but at the same time can get under your skin,” Benn said. “(Tkachuk) is a smart player. He knows what he’s doing and he’s good at it, too. You’ve got to give him credit there.”
Benn might not be as quick to say kind things about Tkachuk by the time the Stars and Flames are done with each other in their first-round series, but he was nothing but respectful about Tkachuk on Monday.
At 35 years old, Perry is unlikely to have the same impact as Tkachuk on the series, and his numbers in his first season with the Stars are far from what he was putting up earlier in his career.
But it’s easy to see why people are comparing Tkachuk with a young Perry.
In his fourth season, Tkachuk scored 23 goals and added 38 assists in 69 games. That’s 0.88 points per game. In Perry’s fourth season, back in 2008-09, he scored 32 goals and added 40 assists in 78 games. That’s an average of 0.92 points per game.
They also did it while maintaining reputations for playing hard-nosed styles and getting under opponents’ skins.
They’re both alumni of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights, too, so this week has certainly not been the first time Tkachuk has heard the comparisons.
“He’s a good guy. I’ve talked to him a few times because of the whole London thing. He was around a little bit when I played there,” Tkachuk said. “I remember (Knights owner and head coach Dale Hunter) introduced him to me one time.
“Especially when I was in London, Dale would always talk about us and tell me I was playing like him.”
One thing separating Tkachuk and Perry is championship success. Perry won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007 and won Olympic gold medals with Canada in both 2010 and ’14.
If Tkachuk can somehow replicate that type of success, Flames fans are going to be very, very happy.
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