Brady Tkachuk has ‘no doubt’ Matthew will shine for Team USA at Olympics

Brady Tkachuk is confident his older brother, Matthew Tkachuk, will be in big-game form in time for the United States’ opening game of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 against Latvia on Feb. 12.

Matthew Tkachuk, a forward with the Florida Panthers, has three assists in four games since returning from surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia Aug. 22. He has six more to get his timing back before the Olympic break, beginning against the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; Utah16, SCRIPPS).

“I have no doubt about him, and I don't think anybody should have any doubts about him because of the way he plays,” Brady Tkachuk, an Ottawa Senators forward, said during a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee conference call on Monday. “Those big moments, he always shows up.”

That was evident during the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. Matthew sat out the Panthers’ final 25 regular-season games after being injured while playing for the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. But the 28-year-old returned for the start of the playoffs and tied for the team lead with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 23 games to help Florida repeat at Stanley Cup champions.

Matthew had a longer layoff before making his season debut against the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 19, but Brady believes he’ll be at his best when the puck is dropped in Milano Cortina. The last NHL games before the Olympics are on Feb. 5 with the first practice scheduled for Feb. 8.

“I just know how much work he put in, how much he's been able to sacrifice to get to that next level after he's already achieved the pinnacle of our sport and winning back-to-back Stanley Cups and how he just wants more,” Brady said. “I wouldn't be worried about his on-ice performance because I know wholeheartedly he’s going to give everything that he has and he's going to show up in a big moment for us."

Playing alongside each other in the Olympics is something Brady and Matthew have dreamed about since childhood. Their father Keith Tkachuk, also a forward, was a four-time U.S. Olympian (1992, 1998, 2002, 2006) and won a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

This is the first time NHL players will participate in the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

“You never really expect it to be a dream come true,” Brady said. “Of course, that's always something that you've wanted to do is play at any level with your brother and create memories that way. But the fact that we're going to be able to do it on the top level at the Olympics and both being Olympians, it’s more than a dream. Just can't believe that it's soon to be real life.

“All the credit goes to our parents and my sister and all of our family and friends, coaches that helped us both get to where we're at. It's not a one-man show to become an Olympian.”

Brady, who has 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 32 games this season, has been focused on helping the Senators as their captain, but the 26-year-old also has been counting the days until the Olympics since he and Matthew were among the first six players named to Team USA’s roster on June 16. They feel they have unfinished business after losing 3-2 in overtime to Team Canada in the 4 Nations championship game.

The U.S. is looking for its first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980.

“Throughout this whole year, you're like, ‘Oh, February, the Olympics are kind of going to be a long ways away,’” Brady said. “But now that we’re a week away -- a week and a half, two weeks. -- it's starting to get really exciting. … It's hard not to get excited to go compete with the best players in this country and see some of the best athletes in the world go head-to-head and compete for the gold medal.”