"He's definitely got that element in his game," Flames coach Bill Peters said. "It comes to him natural. He enjoys it. He's a skilled guy who's hard to play against. There's few of them in the League.
"He's got a little twinkle in his eye, doesn't he? It'll be fun. He's a big-game player. He likes the spotlight. He likes to be right there in the trenches and in the middle of everything. I'm sure he will."
Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov said he expects Tkachuk to be front and center, for better or worse.
"I don't think he's a physical player, he just tries to get under the guys' skin," Zadorov said. "He's a little rat on the ice, so we saw that before. It's nothing special. We won't make any specialties for him, we're just going to go up there and play hard against them.
"I don't think we have any players [who are] doing that stuff. Our physical guys just play a physical game; they're not playing dirty. If you want to be a guy like that that people hate, I don't think it's a good thing."
Tkachuk enters the series largely untested in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. His only other NHL postseason was two years ago, when he was a 19-year-old rookie; the Flames were swept by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round, and Tkachuk had no points with four penalty minutes. Calgary didn't qualify for the playoffs last season.
"This is my third year, second time in playoffs," Tkachuk said. "I haven't proved anything yet this time of the year. I think for each individual to be successful the team has to be successful. That's what I'm looking forward to."
His teammates are too.
"I think that's what's most frustrating for the other team is he plays an in-your-face, gritty style and is a guy who contributes night in and night out on the scoreboard," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "I'm sure he'll be at the top of his game. He's been really excited the past couple days.
"I'm looking forward to getting him out there in Game 1 and seeing what he can do."
NHL.com correspondent Rick Sadowski contributed to this report
