FORT LAUDERDALE – How about a belated gift this holiday season?
Taking a big step toward his eventual return to action, Matthew Tkachuk made his long-awaited return to practice with the Florida Panthers at Baptist Health IcePlex on Sunday.
“His hands haven’t changed,” head coach Paul Maurice smiled.
Neither has his ability to deliver a good chirp, apparently.
“He’s stirring the pot already,” teammate Carter Verhaeghe said.
On the long road to recovery after undergoing offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia in August, Tkachuk has slowly been rounding back into form.
His return to practices comes roughly a month after he resumed skating on his own.
In his first practice, Tkachuk was wearing a yellow no-contact jersey.
“He hasn’t had a practice in six months, but he moved all right,” Maurice said. “Just his engagement with the players, you feel those guys are special players. Just great to see him skating. … There’s a whole bunch of things he needs to get through [before he plays].”
As for the possibility of Tkachuk being in the lineup against the New York Rangers in the 2026 NHL Winter Classic at loanDepot Park on Friday in Miami, that remains to be seen.
For the Panthers, chasing a third straight Stanley Cup is paramount.
"As much as we like the spectacle of it and would love him to be part of it and it'd be great for the game to see him out there, the Florida Panthers need him healthy and need him for the rest of the year,” Maurice said. “The player and the doctors will make the decision.”
Suffering the injury while suiting up for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, Tkachuk missed the final 25 games of last year’s regular season before returning to action in the playoffs and helping the Panthers win their second straight Stanley Cup.
Despite the injury, he racked up 23 points (8G, 15A) in 23 playoff games.
“It’ll be nice to see him healthy,” Maurice said. “The best game he’s possibly played for us last year was Game 6 [of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers] when he wasn’t healthy. He just willed himself. … He can do a lot of things for us.”
Since being acquired by the Calgary Flames in a blockbuster trade in 2022, Tkachuk has been one of the driving forces behind Florida’s ascension to a premier franchise in the NHL.
In 211 regular-season games as a Panther, he’s logged 254 points (88G, 166A).
In that same time, he leads the team with 69 points (25G, 44A) in 67 playoff games.
"He looks awesome,” Verhaeghe said. “Good to see him back out there. He brought us some energy today, for sure. He's worked so hard and he's a huge part of this team over the last few years. To have him back in our lineup will definitely be a huge boost."
Stay tuned for more updates on Tkachuk’s status in the coming days.
ADDITIONAL INJURY NOTES
- Maurice said that he spoke with Jonah Gadjovich today and that the grizzled forward is trending toward a return following the Olympic break in February. Gadjovich has been out since Oct. 25 with an upper-body injury.
- Maurice also noted that he still believes that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov could return sometime in March. Kulikov suffered an upper-body injury during the second game of the season on Oct. 9.
- As always, it’s important to remember that recovery timetables for all players are fluid. "There's a reason for that [recovery] window,” Maurice said. “Yeah, there's some guys that have come back earlier, but then there's a whole bunch of guys that have been longer. They didn’t do anything wrong. They just didn’t heal as fast or get to the strength and power markers we need them to get to before we can put them back in a game. That’s why it’s such a big window.”
