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NHL DRAFT

June 24, 2016

Matthew Tkachuk

Buffalo, New York

Q. Quite a year for you so far, the Memorial Cup, and now a couple weeks later you're a Calgary Flame. How do you take all this in?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I'm just so excited to be drafted by such a really good organization, and they have so many great players and such a great now coaching staff finally and great management. It's going to be an exciting time, and I hope to make the team sooner than later and help the team win.

Q. What do you know about Calgary?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: The young talent they have, and they're an up and coming team and new coach is awesome from what I've been hearing, and their management is great. Just a lot of really good guys in that organization, and that's what you need to build winning teams. The chemistry has got to be there, and it's there in Calgary.

Q. That top line needs a right winger. Have you watched much of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan and wondered what it would be like to play with those two guys?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, well, this year I played a little bit of right wing and found the adjustment pretty easy. It's just‑‑ I don't know, it's something I haven't really thought about yet, but I know how much talent they have, and I want to be a part of that team, and they have such great players. You just named two, but many more down the list. I hope to make that team.

Q. I know you played the Memorial Cup in Red Deer. Did you get a sense of what hockey means to a province like Alberta?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, a lot of our games, there were a lot of Calgary jerseys in the stands, and you just get the feel that it's a big hockey community there, and they love their team and they love the players and they treat them well.

Q. What's it going to be like to play in a place that has so much passion and also you're now a part of the Battle of Alberta and there's some kid named McDavid just north of you.
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I'm excited to be a part of that battle. I like playing in those games, the rivalry games, the big games, and I like trying to come through in those games and being a difference maker, and I hope to do that in the Battle of Alberta.

Q. Is there a rivalry you've been a part of in your career that maybe prepares you for a rivalry like that?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, there's a lot of rivalries we had in the OHL this year, playing with the U.S., playing against Russia and Canada and those teams, you get the sense of the rivalry there, but the NHL is a whole different level, and it's going to be so fun to be part of a rivalry like that, and just playing in the NHL and having a chance to play for a great Canadian market, and I'm excited.

Q. Did you get the feeling that you would go to Calgary?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, a couple picks in I knew that this was going to be the team, and I had them circled since I talked to them at the combine and visited them after the combine, and this is the place I wanted to be, and this is the place I'm going to have the best shot.

Q. Can you talk about some of the injuries you've played through in the Playoffs and the Memorial Cup?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, just an ankle sprain, but it wasn't just me, there's a lot of guys playing through injuries. It's something you have to do to win championships. You have to play through uncomfortable situations.

Q. Why was Calgary the place you wanted to be? Was it something about the meeting with them or did you talk to your dad?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: No, it started with my combine interview. I got a heads up from my uncle and agent that there are really good guys there, and they made me feel so comfortable. It was the best meeting I had at the combine. It was so fun going to visit there and meeting the rest of their staff that wasn't at the combine and meeting their trainers, the strength coaches, and meeting some of the players, even today, and I think they have some spots that they need to fill, and when it comes to a player that provides some of my strengths, and I hope to do that sooner than later, and I hope to be a difference maker soon.

Q. What was that hug like, that embrace with your family when you were selected?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: It was awesome, especially with my dad and my mom and brother and sister. It was so special with them. I told my brother to get a picture of it, so hopefully he got that, and my mom, she was just starting to cry, and my dad was just saying how proud he was and how much he loved me and how special it is.

Q. All the St. Louis kids going in the draft, Clayton right behind you and a big moment for St. Louis there?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: A big moment for St. Louis and a few more are starting to roll now. It's a huge day for St. Louis hockey, and hope they're watching back home. I know they are.

Q. What's going through your head when the draft is breaking a certain way and it's looking like it's going to be this team that you had a good relationship with? Are there nerves, excitement? Are you gripping something tight?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Well, at the beginning of the day, if you would have told a lot of people that the draft would be the order it is now, they would say, definitely not, and I was one of those guys. It's such a relief to go to a team that you want to go to, and it makes it that much better, and everybody says how special it is to play in the NHL, but if you really love the team that picked you, it makes it that much better. It's an unbelievable feeling right now.

Q. Talk about the decision to join the OHL, winning a championship, now being drafted.
MATTHEW TKACHUK: It's been a crazy last month winning the Memorial Cup and now being drafted. It's a month I'll never forget, and it's something that I'll remember, my family will remember. They've been at the Memorial Cup, they came to the draft, and I have 80, 100 friends and family here, and they're so excited for me because deep down they know how much I loved Calgary and how good of a fit it is. They're smart hockey people, so they know what's good and what's maybe not so good, and they know Calgary is the spot to be.

Q. What does it mean to play for the Knights and have this opportunity?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, I got a taste of the Canadian hockey market in junior, and the way they treat their players and the way the fans interact and how much they love the game, I'm just so excited to be a part of a Canadian market that cares so much about their players, and I want to bring them a championship, and I want to just make sure the winning mentality is there in Calgary, and that's something that's one of my strengths is I've been able to win recently, and I want to bring that mentality to the Calgary Flames.

Q. One of your Knights teammates went one pick ahead of you. How do you feel about that? Is there a friendly rivalry there where it kind of stings to go one later?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: No, no, there's no rivalry. I'm so happy for him. I know Vancouver was a need for a D since day one, and I'm so happy he's the first defenseman taken because he deserves it, and he proved it all year that he's worthy of a top‑five spot and the first defenseman taken. I'm so happy for him, and he deserves everything he gets. We both know these are the perfect fits for us.

Q. In terms of both of you going to western Canadian teams both known to be rivals, will that be awkward to line him up on the forecheck?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Nope, I'll see him a lot and I'll deliver whatever needs to be delivered.

Q. Talk about the national team development program where three of the first top‑seven picks‑‑
MATTHEW TKACHUK: It's huge, and nobody would have ever thought that there would be this many Americans projected to go in the first round, and we'll see how the night continues, but it's going to continue in the right direction for USA Hockey and the U.S. national team development program has done everything in its power to make sure that we're ready for the NHL and we're ready for this draft stuff and media and all that, and they do everything. Can't thank that enough, and the London Knights and my St. Louis AAA Blues program, all three of those programs have been huge for me.

Q. Do you have a lot of family still up there?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yep, they still live in Medford, and a lot of them are down here today.

Q. How close do you believe you are to playing in the NHL?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Probably right now, it's going to‑‑ put it this way: I think right now it should be a lot different than when it comes to camp. I think I'm going to be physically in the best shape of my life, and we'll see where it goes from there.

Q. They're an organization that puts teenagers on their team. Does that excite you?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: It's good news to hear, yeah. It's good when they give the young guy a shot, and that's what you want. You want to play sooner than later, so I guess it's a good thing. But they don't just give you the opportunity, you have to earn it, and I'm going to do everything in my power to try and earn a spot.

Q. Do you know anybody on the Flames' team?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I don't think on their current roster, no. I don't even know if I know a lot of their prospects, but I'm a pretty friendly guy, so I'll get to know them pretty well, and that's huge like I said earlier with a team is chemistry, and we're going to have to create this soon.

Q. Talk about the entourage you have here.
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Dad's family from Boston, mom's family from Winnipeg, and all my family from St.Louis.

Q. How about in Calgary, any connections there?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: No, but when my dad told me that when I was getting picked by Calgary that Al MacInnis texted him and said you're lucky, so that's good to hear.

Q. It seemed like you went a couple picks lower than a lot of projections had you, but you don't seem upset.
MATTHEW TKACHUK: This is the team circled on my list. I want to go to a team that really wants you and a team that you really want to play for.

Q. Did you talk to them much at the Memorial Cup?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: No, I don't really allow myself to talk too much during the year. I want to focus on my team and winning, but a lot of talk after at the combine and on my visit I was with them for a whole day, so that was really fun.

Q. Have you thought about what number you want to wear?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: No, no. Just want to get all this media out of the way, I guess, and go see my family, give them all a hug and give all my friends a hug and just start celebrating, and back to work on Monday.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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