Daniel Tkaczuk

Daniel Tkaczuk (born June 10, 1979) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former centre who played 19 games in the National Hockey League for the Calgary Flames. He is currently an assistant coach for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League. Playing career Tkaczuk was born in Toronto, Ontario. As a youth, he played in the 1993 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with Toronto Marlboros minor ice hockey team. He was selected sixth 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 American Hockey League's All-Rookie Team the following season. He played in the National Hockey League for the Calgary Flames during the 2001–02 campaign, but suffered a severe concussion in a game against the Arizona Coyotes during his 19th game. He returned to the minors and never saw NHL action again. Tkaczuk left the Flames system at the end of 2000–01 after winning the Calder Cup when traded along with Fred Brathwaite, Sergei Varlamov, and a 2001 ninth-round pick to the St. Louis Blues for goaltender Roman Turek on June 23, 2001. He would then play two more years in the AHL for the Worcester IceCats and after being released by the St. Louis Blues, for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.