There are two players in the KHL called Vladimir Tkachyov, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have been rumoured to be interested in one of them.  UPDATE: he signed with his KHL team, likely lured by the opportunity to play in the Olympics.  This was mostly fine when only one was getting interest from NHL clubs.  But now the “other” one is too, so we need to sort them out once and for all.

How do you tell them apart?  Why can’t they just have different names?

Elite Prospects lists 26 guys named Erik Karlsson, and two of them are on NHL contracts.  If we can handle that, we can handle this.

One Tkachyov has a 1993 birthdate and the other has a 1995.  Let’s start with that.

What do they look like?

The 93 Tkachyov is this guy (and he’s the one the Leafs are reportedly looking at):

The 95 Tkachyov looks like this (and he’s the guy the Rangers have invited to camp):

But wait, one of them spells his name differently, doesn’t he?

Nope.  Both of them spell it like this: Владимир Ткачёв.  When you redo that in Latin script, you get one of Vladimir Tkachyov or Tkachev.  But in the KHL, in the most recent season, both players had Tkachyov on the back of their jersey.

The 95 Tkachyov played in Canada as a junior and used the Tkachev spelling at that time, but Google considers the two spelling and Ткачёв to be all the same word.

What position do they play and where?

93 Tkachyov is a left-shooting centre who has played for Ak Bars Kazan in the KHL most recently, and as of midnight April 30, he does not have a contract.

95 Tkachyov is a right-shooting left wing who the Oilers had a look at, but didn’t sign.  He’s been playing for Admiral in Vladivostok, and he is under contract for one more year.

Who’s better?

93 Tkachyov played a full season this year and went to the second last round in the playoffs.  He had 15 goals and 32 points in 58 regular season games.  He plays PK and PP and logs a lot of minutes on the top line.

95 Tkachyov missed a little time with injury and played just the first round of the playoffs as his team was beaten early.  He had 14 goals and 39 points in 49 games. So he scores a little more and eight of his goals came on the PP.

So pick your poison: small mobile winger, or experienced centre who scores too.

Who’s bigger?

93 Tkachyov is listed at 6 feet tall and over 200 pounds. He’s a solid guy who plays a tough game in the corners and net-front, but he’s still a fast enough skater.

95 Tkachyov is listed at 5’10” and 152 lbs, and he is a mobile sniper who is using agility and speed to get points.

Who is playing where right now?

93 Tkachyov is playing on the senior men’s national team for Russia heading into the World Championships.  He will likely keep a roster spot even after all the big names get added and final cuts are made.  He had a point on every goal in Russia’s friendly vs Sweden on Thursday where they lost 4-3 in overtime.

95 Tkachyov was not invited to the Russian B team event, which is a U25 tournament, and that’s a bit of a surprise given his scoring this year.

Vladimir Tkachyov: Is he this year’s Zaitsev?
European report: Playoffs and an update on Vladimir Tkachyov