Backes vs Tkacuk

Tkachuk

Year	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	Age
1991-92	Winnipeg	NHL	17	3	5	8	28	0.47	19.5
1992-93	Winnipeg	NHL	83	28	23	51	201	0.61	20.5
1993-94	Winnipeg	NHL	84	41	40	81	255	0.96	21.5
1994-95	Winnipeg	NHL	48	22	29	51	152	1.06	22.5
1995-96	Winnipeg	NHL	76	50	48	98	156	1.29	23.5

Backes

Year	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	Age
2006-07	Blues	NHL	49	10	13	23	37	0.47	22.4
2007-08	Blues	NHL	14	2	2	4	22	0.29	23.4

These are tables of Tkachuk's production in the early years vs Backes' production now. I had a little trouble making it look nice in this text editor but it will do.

Any way you look at it Backes just doesn't measure up. Backes has only played a bit less than one season but at that point in Tkachuk's career he was already producing at about a half a point per game. Backes production is lower but not by as much as I would have thought (~0.4 PPG). However, another thing to keep in mind are the ages represented here. Tkachuk came into the league as a 19 year old, three years sooner than Backes. When Tkachuk was Backes' age he had a 40 goal season on his resume.

I'm all for giving him a chance but these comparisons of Backes to Tkachuk are mostly wishful thinking. That is unless he can start scoring at a point per game rate soon.