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One of hockey’s magical milestones is the 500-goal club and as of the end of the 2019-2020 season, there were a total of five American players in that elite company: Brett Hull (dual Canadian/American citizenship), Joe Mullen, Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick, and Keith Tkachuk. While the first three members of this fraternity are Hall of Famers, Roenick and Tkachuk remain on the outside looking in despite 500+ career goals and 1,000+ career points apiece in the NHL. During their long and productive NHL careers, both were not only among the best offensive players of the 1990s, but were also known for their tough, hard-nosed (dirty?) play; as teammates on the Phoenix Coyotes as well as on Team USA, in comparing these all-time American greats, let us ask the question:
Who was better – Jeremy Roenick or Keith Tkachuk?
The Beginning
Both sons of Massachusetts, Roenick and Tkachuk were each standout hockey players in high school and parlayed that success into being first-round NHL draft picks and immediate impact players at the game’s highest level.
Though born in Boston, Roenick moved around as a child throughout the northeast United States, including to Connecticut and Virginia, before moving back home to Massachusetts. After attending prestigious Thayer Academy, where he played with fellow future American NHL star Tony Amonte and won two League Championships, Roenick was drafted eighth overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, though he spent a season with the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) before joining the Blackhawks at the end of the 1988-1989 season. In his first full year with Chicago in 1989-1990, Roenick had 26 goals and 40 assists for 66 points with a +2 +/- rating to finish third for the Calder Trophy as top rookie (behind 31-year-old “rookie” Sergei Makarov and Modano).
Meanwhile, Tkachuk spent the entirety of his childhood in Massachusetts and after starring in hockey in high school, was drafted 19th overall in the first round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets. He first went on to attend hockey powerhouse Boston University, though he made the jump to the NHL after one year with the Terriers – after playing 17 games in 1991-1992 as a 19-year-old, Tkachuk posted 28 goals and 23 assists for 51 points and a -13 +/- rating for the Jets in 1992-1993.
Career Comparison
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Roenick and Tkachuk were both All-Star caliber players who even played together for a few seasons with the Coyotes en route to etching their legacies as among the greatest American hockey players ever.
Roenick quickly became a star with the Blackhawks, improving his numbers to 41 goals and 53 assists for 94 points and a career-best +38 +/- rating in his second season. In 1991-1992, he posted the first of three straight 100+ point seasons, tallying a career-high 53 goals with 50 assists for 103 points and a +23 +/- rating to finish a career-high fifth fo the Hart Trophy as league MVP and also ninth for the Selke Trophy for best defensive forward. This was followed by consecutive career-high 107-point seasons:
- 1992-1993: 50 goals and 57 assists with a +15 +/- rating
- 1993-1994: 46 goals and a career-high 61 assists with a +21 +/- rating and another top-10 Hart showing
Over the next two seasons with Chicago, including the strike-shortened 1994-1995 campaign, Roenick continued to produce at a point-per-game pace. However, ahead of the 1995-1996 NHL season, he was traded to the Coyotes (i.e. the recently relocated Winnipeg Jets) for Alexei Zhamnov, Craig Mills, and a first-round draft pick (used on Ty Jones).
Out in the desert, Roenick would become the first player in NHL history to wear #97 and playing alongside Tkachuk, would continue to produce consistently during his five seasons with the Coyotes as one of the team’s best offensive players; on three occasions, he would tally between 70-80 points (with another season of 69 points) and have his best overall season in 1999-2000 with 34 goals and 44 assists for 78 points with a +11 +/- rating. Nevertheless, after another fine season with 76 points (30 goals and 46 assists with a -1 +/- rating; it would be his last 70+ point campaign) in 2000-2001, Roenick became a free agent and joined the Philadelphia Flyers.
Roenick’s first season in Philly would be his best with 21 goals and 46 assists for 67 points and a +32 +/- rating, and would include his 1,000th career point in the league. From there, however, his production steadily dipped to 59 points in 2002-2003 and then, 47 points in 2003-2004; upon returning from the lockout, the Flyers acquired Peter Forsberg and in a corresponding move, traded Roenick to the Los Angeles Kings for salary cap space. Following a disappointing campaign of only 22 points in 58 games with the Kings, he returned to the Coyotes on a one-year deal before rounding out his career with the San Jose Sharks. Before retiring after the 2008-2009 season at age 39, Roenick became just the fourth American player to reach the 500-goal mark, following in the footsteps of the aforementioned Hull, Mullen, and Modano.
As for Tkachuk, he was named team captain of the Jets at just 21 years of age and responded with 41 goals and 40 assists for 81 points and a -12 +/- rating that year. After continuing his point-per-game pace during the strike-shortened 1994-1995 season (22 goals and 29 assists for 51 points with a -4 +/- rating in 48 games played), he had his best overall statistical season in 1995-1996 in what would be the team’s final season in Winnipeg before relocating to Phoenix: 50 goals and career-highs of 48 assists and 98 points with a +11 +/- rating. In the inaugural season for the Coyotes, Tkachuk would have a historic year – with 52 goals and 34 assists for 86 points and a -1 +/- rating, he became the first American-born player to lead the league in goals (Hull had previously led the NHL in goals scored for three consecutive seasons, but is technically Canadian-born with US citizenship). Following season totals of 40 and 36 goals, respectively, over the next few years, he was limited to only 50 games played in 1999-2000; though Tkachuk bounced back with 71 points (29 goals and 42 assists) through 64 games in the 2000-2001 season, he was traded late in the season to the St. Louis Blues for Ladislav Nagy, Michal Handzus, Jeff Taffe, and a first-round draft pick (used on Ben Eager).
Though he fit well into a physical Blues team led by star defensemen Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis, Tkachuk never quite played a full season in St. Louis due to injuries. Overall, his first full season in 2001-2002 was his best with 38 goals and 37 assists for 75 points and a +21 +/- rating. This was followed by 55 points in 56 games the next season and his last point-per-game campaign in 2003-2004 (33 goals and 38 assists for 71 points with a +8 +/- rating). After returning to the Blues post the 2004-2005 lockout, Tkachuk was suspended briefly for reporting out of shape, but still managed 36 points in 41 games. However, towards the end of the 2006-2007 season, he was traded to the then-Atlanta Thrashers (who ironically later moved to Winnipeg and became the new incarnation of the Jets) for Glen Metropolit and draft picks.
Ultimately, Tkachuk only played 18 regular season games for the Thrashers before he was reacquired by the Blues ahead of the 2007-2008 season. The second time around, he played three more years in St. Louis, but his production steadily decreased each year. Nevertheless, on the final day of the 2007-2008 season, Tkachuk followed Roenick to become just the fifth American in NHL history to reach 500 career goals; he would reach 1,000 career points the next season before retiring at age 37 post the 2009-2010 season.
Between these two American legends, Roenick played two more NHL seasons than Tkachuk (20 vs. 18) and roughly 160 additional games; as a result, he has the career advantage in assists, points, and +/- rating, though Tkachuk actually scored more goals and the duo have essentially the same career points-per-game average (0.89). On a seasonal basis, Tkachuk was also the more proficient goal scorer (9x 30+ goals, including 4x 40+ and 2x 50+ vs. 7x 30+ goals for Roenick, including 4x 40+ and 2x 50+), though his counterpart was more proficient in compiling points (4x 90+ points with 3x 100+ vs. only once with 90+ points for Tkachuk); additionally, Tkachuk fit the mold of a quintessential power forward with 10 seasons of 100+ penalty minutes, including 3x with 200+ (though one can certainly argue that penalty minutes are a negative rather than a positive). Neither player won any major hardware, though Roenick was selected to nine All-Star Games vs. five for Tkachuk. Despite their long and productive careers and reaching the career milestones of both 500+ goals and 1,000+ points, neither player is currently in the Hockey Hall of Fame; in fact, among those eligible, the only other players with 500+ goals who are not in the Hall of Fame are Pat Verbeek (522), Pierre Turgeon (515), and Peter Bondra (503).
Regular Season Statistics
| Jeremy Roenick | Player | Keith Tkachuk |
| 20 (1988-2009) | Seasons | 18 (1991-2010) |
| 1,363 | Games Played | 1,201 |
| 513 | Goals | 538 |
| 703 | Assists | 527 |
| 1,216 | Points | 1,065 |
| +153 | +/- | +33 |
| 9x | All-Star Games | 5x |
| – | Hart Trophies | – |
| – | Ross Trophies | – |
| – | Stanley Cups | – |
| – | Conn Smythes | – |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
As prolific as each player was in the regular season, neither Roenick nor Tkachuk was able to reach professional hockey’s highest peak in winning the Stanley Cup, though the former did come close early on in his career.
Though Roenick made 17 postseason trips (8x Blackhawks, 4x Coyotes, 3x Flyers, and 2x Sharks) in 20 NHL seasons, his greatest successes came early on with Chicago. Most notably, during his standout 1991-1992 campaign, he had 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points and a +11 +/- rating in the playoffs (all personal bests) as the Blackhawks advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals behind their Hall of Fame goalie tandem of Ed Belfour and Dominik Hasek; however, they were quickly swept by Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh Penguins, with Roenick managing 2 goals in the Finals.
Similarly, despite 13 career playoff appearances (5x Blues, 4x Coyotes, 3x Jets, 1x Atlanta Thrashers), Tkachuk only advanced past the first round twice, in back-to-back seasons with the Blues at the turn of the century. In 2000-2001, St. Louis made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing in five games to Joe Sakic and the eventual champion Colorado Avalanche, with Tkachuk contributing 2 goals and 7 assists for 9 points with an even +/- rating during the run.
While they may not have achieved much NHL postseason success, Roenick and Tkachuk were both Olympic stalwarts for Team USA – the former was a 2x Olympian (1998 and 2002), the latter a 4x participant (1992, 1998, 2002, and 2006) and together, the duo won a silver medal on home ice during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Additionally, Roenick also won a Canada Cup silver with the Stars and Stripes and Tkachuk was part of the gold medal-winning 1996 World Cup squad.
Playoff Statistics
| Jeremy Roenick | Player | Keith Tkachuk |
| 154 | Games Played | 89 |
| 53 | Goals | 28 |
| 69 | Assists | 28 |
| 122 | Points | 56 |
| +21 | +/- | -15 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; after excelling for well over a decade each, Roenick and Tkachuk both saw their production steadily decline in the late 2000s. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Jeremy Roenick | Player | Keith Tkachuk |
| 1990-1996, 1998-2002 | Decade of Dominance | 1993-1999, 2000-2004 |
| 734 | Games Played | 706 |
| 341 | Goals | 378 |
| 464 | Assists | 352 |
| 805 | Points | 730 |
| +160 | +/- | +58 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In looking at their respective decades of dominance, Roenick (1.10) and Tkachuk (1.03) each averaged more than a point per game; the former remains the more dangerous all-around player, while the latter was one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the game during his prime.
My Thoughts
Alongside the likes of Modano, Hull, Amonte, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios, Mike Richter, etc., Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk were key components of America’s “Greatest Generation” of hockey players in the 1990s and early 2000s. Though they were both hard-nosed players who competed with a physical edge, I would say their styles differed a bit; Tkachuk was the more gifted goal scorer and a prototypical power forward (especially in his mid-1990s prime), but Roenick had the more complete game – he was likewise a prolific scorer, but also great at setting up his teammates and playing defense as a forward. As to their Hall of Fame candidacies, I do firmly believe that both are deserving inductees – in addition to reaching the seemingly magical milestones of 500+ career goals and 1,000+ career points (only a handful of eligible players in each category are not currently Hall of Famers), since it is the Hockey Hall of Fame and not the NHL Hall of Fame, their contributions for American hockey should be icing on the cake.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Jeremy Roenick
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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