1969-70 O-Pee-Chee 43 Walt Tkaczuk Hockey Card (Front)
1969-70 O-Pee-Chee 43 Walt Tkaczuk Hockey Card (Back)
1969-70 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
As a youngster, Walter worked in a gold mine in northern Ontario, but the Rangers got him a safer job because of his hockey talent. He’s the only NHL player born in Germany. Walt seldom gives up the puck.
En Français
Dans sa jeunesse, Walter a travaillé dans une mine d’or en Ontario, mais les Rangers lui ont assuré un avenir meilleur à cause de son talent pour le hockey. Il est le seul joueur de la LNH a être natif d’Allemagne. Walt se défait rarement de la rondelle.
Details
In his final year of junior hockey, 1967-68, Walt Tkaczuk and Don Luce powered the Kitchener Rangers to a regular season championship. However, the Rangers couldn’t get past the Niagara Falls Flyers in the final to advance to the Memorial Cup. Luce finished third in league scoring with 94 points while Tkaczuk was in fourth, just one point behind.
In his rookie season with the New York Rangers, 1968-69, Walt scored 12 goals in 71 games. His first came in his second game, a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden. He scored the third goal of the game for the Rangers at 19:43 of the first period on Wayne Rutledge and assisted by Ron Stewart.
He followed that up with five straight years scoring at least 21 goals. His career best of 27 markers was scored in both 1969-70 and 1972-73. In that 1969-70 season, he led New York with 50 assists and 70 points. His assist total placed him fourth in the NHL, 37 behind leader Bobby Orr. He placed fifth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, a single point behind Phil Goyette of the St. Louis Blues.
Between 1967-68 and 1980-81, Walt Tkaczuk played 945 regular season and 93 playoff games in the National Hockey League, all with the New York Rangers. Following his playing career, Tkaczuk carried on as an assistant coach for New York for a few years.