Matthew Tkachuk

Not liking the direction of the club, Tkachuk refused to sign an extension with the Flames this past offseason and was eventually traded to the Panthers - where he immediately signed a new contract -- in a deal involving Jonathan Huberdeau. Tkachuk was eighth in NHL scoring a season ago with 104 points in 82 games and won't turn 25 years old until the middle of December, so it's easily to see why Florida was willing to give up Huberdeau, who finished second in the league in scoring last season. Tkachuk is a legitimate all-around player. He had 253 shots on goal, 93 hits, and 29 power-play points a season ago and will now likely line up alongside Aleksander Barkov on Florida's top line. It's quite possible we haven't seen the best Tkachuk has to offer yet, and that's a scary thought.

Tkachuk endured his lowest-scoring season with 43 points in 56 games last year, although he set a career high in hits with 132. The sixth-overall pick from 2016 has since had trade rumors lingering over his head with talk that he might want to go to his hometown of St. Louis, but the physical winger remains under contract with the Flames for another year. One thing is clear -- Tkachuk should be motivated to play his best in 2021-22, either to have a better chance of getting traded or securing a larger contract from the Flames. He showed 75-point potential in 2018-19, and the winger's ability to rack up shots on goal, hits and PIM should give him a high floor in fantasy even if his offense doesn't bounce back all the way. He's expected to begin the season on the top line with Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau.

Tkachuk took a slight step back with 23 goals and 61 points in 69 games in 2019-20. His shooting percentage dipped from 16.4 to 12.2, which helps explain part of his slight decline. There's no doubt that Tkachuk, entering his fifth year, is an elite power forward in the NHL. He's capable of playing at a near point-per-game pace while adding 60-plus PIM and 100-plus hits annually. Tkachuk has also never shot lower than 9.2 percent in a season, which was the mark he set in his rookie year. A reliable all-category producer, the 22-year-old winger should be a popular pick in the early rounds of most fantasy drafts.

Tkachuk smashed all expectations with 34 goals and 77 points in 2018-19, enjoying a 28-point increase from the previous season. Tkachuk's success was fueled by a shooting percentage of 16.4 percent, but that's to be expected, as the winger has an elite eye for the goal. He's frequently played alongside Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik on the '3M' line in Calgary, a trio which has enjoyed high possession numbers since Tkachuk's arrival in 2016. Barring injury, fantasy owners can expect Tkachuk to post at least 25 to 30 goals and 65 to 70 points in 2019-20. The winger's heavy playing style (104 hits, 62 PIM last year) can occasionally cost him valuable ice time, but he'll likely occupy a spot on the top power-play unit and second line in his fourth full season, with occasional forays to the top line if coach Bill Peters feels the need to shuffle his lineup.

After being selected sixth overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Tkachuk has wasted little time making a name for himself in the NHL. The 20-year-old forward racked up 37 goals and 97 points in 144 games over his first two seasons in Calgary. He's also amassed 330 shots on goal while maintaining a physical edge, doling out 145 hits during that span. Tkachuk was a threat on the power play a season ago, netting 17 points. However, given the additions of James Neal and Elias Lindholm, it'll be interesting to see how new bench boss Bill Peters elects to use Tkachuk on special teams in 2018-19. Even if his time on the man advantage is limited, the Arizona native profiles as a solid offensive contributor and banking on a 50-point campaign is by no means crazy.

Tkachuk’s strong rookie campaign may have been lost in all the hype over the star debuts of fellow 2016 draftees Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, but his 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists) were good enough for sixth among rookies in 2016-17. Those scoring figures become even more impressive when you realize that the 19-year-old averaged a mere 14:40 of ice time last season; that was at least partially due to Tkachuk’s rookie-leading 105 penalty minutes, but even when accounting for that, it appears that Calgary’s coaching staff wanted to keep the rising star fresh for the future. If the youngster can spend less time in the penalty box and more time on the ice -- including on the power play, where he averaged 2:01 last season -- he'll be an excellent candidate to break out as a sophomore.

Nabbed with the sixth pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, the son of borderline NHL Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk will get a chance to stick with the Flames straight out of camp and maybe even win a top-six role. He has little left to prove in junior hockey, as Tkachuk’s only OHL campaign resulted in 107 regular-season points, then an absurd playoff performance: 20 goals and 20 assists in 18 games. The 18-year-old has good size, skates reasonably well, sees the ice brilliantly, and can shoot and pass with the best of them; in short, he has the complete package to be just as big a star as his father, if not quite the same sort of player. Tkachuk plays a more refined style of hockey than his dad in some respects, but he’s still going to pester opponents while doing the hard work down low and in tight that the Flames need from him. He’s a must-own player in keeper leagues and a worthy late-round flier in yearly formats.