Daniel Tkaczuk - Playing Career

Playing Career

Tkaczuk was selected 6th overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames. He represented Canada at the 1999 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he won a silver medal and led the team in scoring. Tkaczuk was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team the following season. He thus earned some time in the NHL with the Calgary Flames during the 2001–02 campaign, but returned to the minors and never saw NHL action again.

Tkaczuk left the Flames system at the end of 2000–01 after winning the AHL Calder Cup, and played two more years in the AHL for the Worcester IceCats and Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Unhappy with his shaky status in the minors, he looked for better fortune in Europe, spending the 2003–04 season with Lukko of Finland's major league, the SM-liiga. His numbers were acceptable given Lukko's rather low profile, but not outstanding enough to grant him a perennial place in Finland.

Tkaczuk then turned to Milan, the highest paying club in the Italian league, where his several talents found more room to express themselves. In the middle of a rather dense Milan roster, Tkaczuk even outplayed some of the NHLers spending time in the Italian championship while the 2004–05 labor conflict was raging on. His led Milan in goals( 23), assists (33) and points (56), which was good enough for a 3rd place leaguewide both in regular season points and goals. Thanks to those solid numbers, Tkaczuk was one of 3 Milan players - the others being defenceman Marc Savard (no connection with the NHLer of the same name) and veteran forward Ryan Savoia - named to Team Canada's roster for the 2004 Loto Cup in Slovakia. Milan went on to win the national title, their 4th in a row despite extreme resistance from finalist Cortina.

In the late summer of 2005, Tkaczuk talked with Krefeld Pinguine of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He was also in talks with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins and Lada Togliatti in the very selective Russian Super League before eventually opting to return to Milan.

In 2006, Tkaczuk moved to the DEL and signed for ERC Ingolstadt. In 2007 he moved to EV Duisburg Die Füchse and played there until the completion of the 2008–09 season. Tkaczuk was second in goals during the 2007–08 season (17)

After six year abroad, Tkaczuk returned to North America and signed with the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League on November 13, 2009. He would later be loaned to the Rochester Americans on December 7, 2009. On January 6, 2010, the Hartford Wolf Pack signed Tkaczuk to a professional tryout (PTO) contract. Tkaczuk finished the season with 45 points in 46 games for the Checkers.

In the following season, Tkaczuk signed a one year contract with the EC TREND-Dornbirn of the second-tier Austrian National League on September 16, 2010 After scoring 33 points in 26 games Tkaczuk left Trend and signed with the GMB Nottingham Panthers, a hockey team based in the UK in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) on January 19, 2011.