NHL draft 2016: Matthew Tkachuk voted the 4th-best prospect

Yesterday we kicked off the 2016 version of our BSH Community NHL Draft Board with voting on the fourth overall pick.

And, well, you answered pretty directly: with the fourth spot on our board, it’s London Knights winger Matthew Tkachuk. We know that you probably voted for him because his Twitter username is @TKACHUKycheese_, but he’s a hockey player too OK?

Ranked second among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and fourth overall in the 2016 Draft by ISS Hockey, Tkachuk is a strong skater and prolific scorer with the Knights who adds a bit of grit to his game as well. He pulled in 107 points — 30 goals and 77 assists — in 57 games this past season with London, and he added 80 penalty minutes to that as well. Perhaps more impressively, he finished London’s postseason with 20 goals and 20 assists in just 18 games.

The 2016 BSH Community NHL Draft Board

1. Auston Matthews, C, Zurich (Switzerland)
2. Patrick Laine, LW, Tampere (Finland)
3. Jesse Puljujarvi, RW, Karpat (Finland)
4. Matthew Tkachuk, LW, London (OHL) (48% of the vote)
5. ???

Here’s what Scott Wheeler — who watches his fair share of OHL hockey — at Pension Plan Puppets has to say about Tkachuk’s game:

When I saw Tkachuk play in-person during London’s visit to Ottawa this season, his line was so utterly dominant that it was hard to discern who was driving the play. But it didn’t matter. Tkachuk, [2015 4th overall pick Mitch] Marner and [2014 Coyotes pick Christian] Dvorak are all so gifted with and without that puck that they could toy with the 67’s (no matter the matchup) and create offen[s]e on every shift. None of them were a liability, none of them mishandled the puck or regularly trailed the play. That Tkachuk could elevate to their level and make both of them better spoke for itself. The game was Feb. 27. The Knights won 5-1 and Tkachuk picked up five points to Dvorak and Marner’s three each. He was named the first star of the game. … As good as Marner and Dvorak are, Tkachuk might be this year’s Knights MVP in that he added another physical playmaking dimension to the team.

Tkachuk is likely to make some bad Canadian team at the top of this draft very happy.

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Moving forward today, let’s vote for No. 5 on the board. See the poll below, and see bios on each of those on the ballot here. Poll will be open until midnight tonight, and we’ll announce the winner in the morning.

As always, please use your vote below to answer the following question: If all of the players listed were available when the Flyers were on the clock, who would you want them to pick?

Who should be No. 5 on the Community Big Board?