UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (04/13/97)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Keith Tkachuk: got it all together

You name it, chances are Keith Tkachuk has been its poster boy at one time or another.

Party Boy Keith, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Keith, Insecure Keith. Uncle Sam Keith, Charitable Keith, Undisciplined Keith, Fifty Goal Keith. Canada Losing One of Its Franchises Keith, Immature Keith, World Cup Champion Keith.

It's amazing that such a basic young man, who employs such a simple approach to the game, can be so many different things to so many people. So simple - so complex. So radical - so extreme.

Yet that's exactly what the Phoenix Coyotes' Ukrainian left winger has been since bursting onto the NHL scene in the wake of the 1992 Olympics. Now, though, there is call to suggest the recently turned 25-year-old Bostonian is emerging with a new and improved identity, on and off the ice.

That is: Got It All Together Keith.

"It's all part of the maturation process young players go through," said Bobby Smith, Coyotes' executive vice-president for hockey operations. "Keith is taking responsibility to lead our team. He wants to be acknowledged as one of the best players in the game. He wants to be known as a winner."

After a sluggish start to this season, Tkachuk has emerged as one of the game's most dominant players, and his Coyotes have become a second-half factor in the Western Conference.

After the Coyotes' first 29 games (10-15-4), which is when GM John Paddock was fired, Tkachuk had 12 goals and 24 points. His play ranged from lousy on most nights to pretty good on some others. But in the 48 games since the Paddock firing (26-20-2), Tkachuk has been consistently excellent, scoring 35 more goals and adding 20 helpers. More importantly, he's been playing with gusto and demonstrating true leadership qualities. His 47 goals ties him with Super Mario and Teemu Selanne, second only to John LeClair's 49 in the league. His 210 penalty minutes are almost double that of any other top-25 league scorers.

Tkachuk was the mid-season leader for The Hockey News' High IQ (Intimidation Quotient) Award, a statistical measure that recognizes goal-scorers with true grit. Eric Lindros won it last season; Tkachuk the year before that.

In an interview with The Hockey News during the NHL all-star break, Tkachuk said, "It's funny, I've never really considered myself a goal-scorer. I'm not sure I do now. I'm just trying to keep it simple, go to the net and sacrifice my body. I can't play (well) without getting my nose dirty."

That was his problem early this season. He was still floating on the high of Team USA's World Cup win over Canada. It took the firing of Paddock, which was a clear vote of confidence for then struggling rookie head coach Don Hay, to jolt him back to reality. That is, Tkachuk is being paid big bucks ($17.2 million over five years) to lead his team: to score, hit, fight and set an example every night.

"I wasn't focused enough," he said. "I wasn't committed enough. I realized I've got a job to do. It's my responsibility. The thing is I want to be known as a winner. No one ever remembers who scored 50 goals, but everyone remembers who wins. After getting a taste at the World Cup, all I want now is to win the Stanley Cup."

At the same time Tkachuk's game is coming around on the ice, he's showing signs of getting it together away from the arena, too.

No giggling or gagging in Winnipeg, please. If nothing else, have some respect for his new in-laws - he and Winnipeg native Chantal Oster were married in a February 28 ceremony in Phoenix. Besides, there is reason to believe Tkachuk is maturing, even though some stormy times in Winnipeg will not soon be forgotten by some.

There was the time he rolled his car. There are also stories, both real and imaginary, of late nights out; the perception that he did not want to play in Winnipeg; the rivalry, real and imagined, with golden boy Teemu Selanne; the free-agent offer sheet from the Chicago Blackhawks that forced the Winnipeg Jets to pay Tkachuk $6 million last season, even though they were a lame-duck franchise just waiting to skip town; the stripping of his captaincy for his training camp absence; the on-ice temper tantrums and undisciplined play.

There was a public feud with Winnipeg broadcaster Vic Grant, who rode Tkachuk unmercifully for blowing off a local charity event, burning a $100 bill just for the hell of it at the team rookie dinner last season, and generally epitomizing what Winnipeggers figure is wrong with the game today - big American bucks being paid to big American stars, driving the NHL out of Canada.

"Unfortunately for Keith, he became the symbol of why small market Canadian teams couldn't make it," Smith said.

Tkachuk is prepared to accept responsibility for errors during his Winnipeg days, but firmly believes little of it would have been an issue if he weren't making $6 million last season. He is earning $2.6 million this season.

"If I was making $300,000, there wouldn't have been nearly as much attention," Tkachuk said. "One false move and they were going to be on me. People were looking for me to fail. I didn't want it to be like that. But I adapted. I scored 50 goals. I delivered."

Not that Tkachuk didn't provide some ammunition for his critics. But really, what he proved was that $6 million doesn't buy maturity or good judgment. Only time and some hard knocks take care of that.

"Everybody messes up now and again when they're young," he said. "Everybody does stupid things in their life. It's part of growing up."

Those who know him suggest he has matured by leaps and bounds. He's no angel, of course, but not a bad person either.

When he went to a Phoenix soup kitchen on Christmas day to dispense dinners, it wasn't for a photo opportunity. Like many NHLers, he sponsors underprivileged kids (150) at each game in "Tkachuk's Corner" of America West Arena. This summer in Winnipeg, he'll host his own charity golf tournament, which suggests he cares how he's perceived up there.

"Sure, I care," he said. "It's important to me. It's where I started my career."

Tkachuk is the son of a Ukrainian fireman from Boston. He grew up in a blue-collar environment. Tkachuk, the very symbol of "new money," is a member of the ultra-exclusive, old-money Phoenix Country Club.

"I don't know what they were thinking when they let me in," Tkachuk said with a laugh.

When the season ends, he heads to his summer retreat in the gated community of Ridge Club on Cape Cod. His neighbors include Bobby Orr, Derek Sanderson and current NHL buddies Tony Amonte, Scott Lachance, Craig Janney and Marty McInnis. His two-and-a-half-car garage house - the half garage is for his personal golf cart - backs onto the 11th hole, a mere 200-yard ride to the clubhouse.

For someone who grew up a kid of meager means, the home, the camaraderie with stars past and present is the "highlight" of his life.

Tkachuk can be warm and engaging, a quick wit, fun to be around. But his experiences have also taught him to be on guard, wary and suspicious of anyone interested in passing judgment. He used to act first and think later. He was open and emotional. Now he strives to reverse the process. Think first. Choose words carefully. Put up a wall if you're under attack.

Sometimes he truly can't help himself. When he wasn't named to the All-Star Game, he snapped. But when he was added as an injury replacement, he graciously accepted, canceling the golf trip he planned with teammate Jeremy Roenick.

Roenick, another brash American, Tkachuk, and their families have become fast friends since "J.R." breezed into the desert. They are golf buddies and are referred to as the two jewels of this new Sunbelt franchise.

There is no reason whatsoever to doubt their newfound friendship, but for anyone who knows Tkachuk, it has taken time for him to adjust to the J.R. factor.

Tkachuk doesn't like this line of questioning. He has been down this road before, with the Selanne factor back in Winnipeg.

"I had no problems in Winnipeg with Teemu, and I have no problems with Jeremy," Tkachuk declared with a trace of irritation. "It's just not there."

Not personally anyway. Whether Tkachuk cares to admit it, his ego (which drives him to be the great player that he is) is not without pressure points.

Anyone who knows Tkachuk understands how important it is for him to "be the man." His nature is to not take a back seat to anyone. This doesn't manifest itself in direct competition or animosity toward major co-stars such as Selanne or Roenick. But this indirect threat has, in the past, served to diminish Tkachuk's edge.

On the ice, it took time for him to adapt to the addition of Roenick, who initially was hailed as the team's brightest star. When Roenick was in the line-up (prior to the Paddock firing), Tkachuk wasn't the same player as when Roenick was out. It was nothing more than being a little out of sorts, not with Roenick, but with himself.

That comfort zone now exists because it's plain to see at this stage of his career that Roenick is no threat at all to the younger, more dominant Tkachuk. Because of this, and because he is maturing, Tkachuk realizes the better the supporting cast, the better the chance he has to win.

"I don't think he wants to 'be the man' as much as he wants to win," Smith said. "Winning the Cup is what drives him now."

There is no doubting his intensity. Mighty Ducks coach Ron Wilson, who guided Tkachuk and Team USA at the World Cup, describes him as "insanely intense."

"He brings a 13- or 14-year-old's enthusiasm to the rink," Wilson said. "It's almost naive, and I mean that in the most positive way."

Of all the things for which Tkachuk has been poster boy, none fits quite as well as Captain America. He is an over-the-top patriot. In Canada, he would get the label of "ugly American." He is brash, full of himself and his country, and in your face with a vengeance.

Tkachuk and longtime buddy Bill Guerin (of the Devils), another prototypical power forward of the 1990s, were a cross between the Bash Brothers and the Hanson Brothers for Team USA in the World Cup. They would always be the first players at the rink, along with laid-back linemate Mike Modano, who got dragged along because they figured he needed some "pumping up."

"They would get themselves focused and ready," Wilson said, "and then they would get our whole team focused. They're warriors."

Being the first player to get to the rink on game days has become a calling card for Tkachuk, who needs hours to gear up to go to war. Yet, according to Smith, he is as much beauty as he is beast.

"He has more skill than I ever imagined," Smith raved. "The mental image of Wayne Gretzky is dealing passes from behind the net. The mental image of Keith is hammering someone or scoring goals from two feet out in a scramble.

"Well, I've seen him score goals from all over. I've seen him score beautiful goals, make outstanding plays. His hands really are terrific."

Tkachuk takes the game more seriously now than he ever has. He's into the off-ice conditioning in a heavy way. He's striving to work with the Coyotes' younger players in a leadership role, making an earnest effort to wear the "C" better than he did the first time around in Winnipeg. He is, on a more consistent basis, imposing his will on the game, dominating both physically and offensively.

It's still not a perfect picture - it never is for someone who employs such extreme measures in his game. But make no mistake, Keith Tkachuk is growing, both as a player and as a person. He is arguably the best NHL player of Ukrainian descent in the 1996-1997 season.

(Quotes courtesy of Hockey News.)

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