Tkachuk 'on track' to return to Panthers lineup, Maurice said

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Matthew Tkachuk is "on track" to join the Florida Panthers for the first time this season, coach Paul Maurice said Friday.

"We are kind of moving into the phase of the doctors signing off on him coming back to our practices," Maurice said. "I do not know when that is going to be because we don't practice, so how would I know?

"But he hasn't had a setback. He's on track. He's on the ice, he gets off the ice every day and he feels stronger.''

Tkachuk, 28, has not played this season. The forward was originally injured playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. He missed the final 25 games of the 2024-25 regular season but returned for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where he tied for the team lead with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 23 postseason games, helping Florida win its second straight Stanley Cup championship.

He had surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia on Aug. 22 and started skating on his own in November.

Speaking on the "Wingmen" podcast he hosts with his younger brother, Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk, Matthew said this week that one of the big restrictions he faced had been lifted.

The Panthers and their medical staff had Tkachuk skating one day and then having the next day be off-ice work.

Maurice said in November that the next step before Tkachuk would return to practice would be after he started skating two straight days and then taking the third off.

"He has not fallen off, he is right on it,'' Maurice said ahead of the Panthers' game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SCRIPPS, TVAS).

After playing the Hurricanes, the Panthers host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday and will take Sunday off.

Florida's final practice before the holiday break is Monday. They will then fly to Raleigh, North Carolina to play the Hurricanes on Tuesday.

After the holiday break, Florida will play three home games in a span of four days (Dec. 27, 29, 30) before hosting the New York Rangers in the 2026 Discover Winter Classic at loanDepot park on Jan. 2 (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS).

When asked Wednesday by NHL.com if Tkachuk would be ready to play in the Winter Classic, general manager Bill Zito said, "I don't know."

"The prognosis is the same that I said at the beginning of the season," Zito said. "They told me around Christmas, so I don't know what that means. He'll play when he's ready."

Zito said at the start of training camp that the Panthers had hoped to have Tkachuk skating with the team again in mid-December.

Brady and Matthew were among the first six players named to the United States' preliminary roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 this February.

"It was December, January, is what we were told,'' Maurice said in November of the initial timeline for Tkachuk's rehabilitation.

"It's an eight-week window, but that's where these injuries are. He just has to hit a bunch of milestones before he can be pushed. I just can't say when he will be back with us.''

In addition to Tkachuk, the Panthers (18-13-2) are without captain Aleksander Barkov who had knee surgery after being injured early in training camp and is expected to be out 7-9 months. Forwards Tomas Nosek (knee) and Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), and Cole Schwindt (broken arm) are also each out long term but could start coming back following the Olympic break at the end of February.

Florida enters Friday one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.