Tkachuk reads letter from 11-year-old Panthers fan at 2026 Olympics

A young Florida Panthers fan sent Matthew Tkachuk well wishes with a side of chirps.

The Panthers forward read a letter from an 11-year-old fan named Cambridge wishing him good luck at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 in a video posted by USA Hockey on social media.

Cambridge wrote he lived in Italy for almost a year and went to school on the military base due to his mother’s job. The young fan’s late father was a Panthers fan.

“I know you had a lot of great moments in your career, but in my opinion the best had to be the back-to-back Stanley Cup wins,” Tkachuk read from Cambridge’s letter. “That had to feel good. Especially because your brother has none.”

Tkachuk chuckled at the chirp and said it wasn’t “nice” but “hilarious.”

The young fan ended the letter saying he hoped Tkachuk scored a lot of goals and Team USA wins the gold medal before wishing the forward good luck.

Tkachuk responded to Cambridge saying winning two Stanley Cups were one of the “greatest things to happen to me,” but there was no greater honor than representing the U.S. at the Olympics.

“I’m going to try to do you and the rest of the Americans proud and come out with the big ultimate goal,” Tkachuk said to end the video.

The star forward will make his Olympics debut when the United States play Team Latvia on Thursday (3:10 p.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Gem, SN, RDS) at Santagiulia Arena in the first of three preliminary round games.