Matthew Tkachuk Will miss the start of the season with an injury in the lower body and will probably be out for the Florida Panthers until December, said general manager Bill Zito Wednesday.
“Don’t hold me on,” said Zito. “My medical education on the internet.”
The 27-year-old and two-time Stanley Cup winner was limited to 52 regular season matches last season and had 57 points (22 goals, 35 assists). He walked in a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia injury on the same side while playing for the United States during the 4 countries Face-Off in February.
Bill Guerin, general manager of Team USA for the Winter Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, said they “plans and expect” Tkachuk for the tournament in February, the first time that NHL players are participating in the Winter Games since the Sochi Olympics 2014.
“Planning and expecting (having him),” said Guerin in the Olympic Orientation Camp of the United States on August 27. “I mean, that is exactly what I have to do. And if something changes, then we will change it, but he will be on and he will continue until he cannot.”
Tkachuk was not one of the 44 players who attended the camp at the Saint John’s Hotel and Resort in Plymouth, Michigan. He and his brother, captain of the senators of Ottawa Brady Tkachukbelonged to the first six players mentioned on June 16 in the US provisional schedule, with centers Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights) and Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs) and defenders Quinn Hughes (Vancouver Canucks) and Charlie Mcavoy (Boston Bruins).
“He called me and just told me what was going on,” said Guerin. “It would not be great for him to get on a plane and fly now. He didn’t have to be here. He was cheerful. He is always cheerful.”
The Tkachuk brothers became the face of US hockey during the 4 Nations Face-Off last February, each of whom were in a fight against Canada in the first seconds of a preliminary round victory. Matthew suffered an injury in the tournament and was only able to play four services in a 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in the championship match, but he stayed on the couch all the time and welcomed his countrymen.
“I think he represents the identity of the team in many ways and what we are trying to become as a group,” said American coach Mike Sullivan. “He is a fierce competitor. He has incredible care for his teammates.
“We certainly missed him in the final of 4 nations.”
Tkachuk missed the last nine weeks of the regular season and returned before the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 22. He played all 23 Postseason matches and Bond Vooruit Sam Reinhart And Carter Verhaeghe For the team leader in points with 23 (eight goals, 15 assists).
After he helped the Panthers to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup title, Tkachuk said that his adductor muscle was torn from the bone.
“I would not be here without the trainers and doctors and those people, and that is what makes this cup more special to me, is how difficult it was to be just and to be about to get,” Tkachuk said June 18.
“I owe those boys. This cup is for me because of them, and I am so lucky.”
Tkachuk scored what the cup-winning goal would prove to be when he gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead with 47 seconds in the first period against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final. He said he wasn’t sure if he would be ready for the start of the play -offs, even a few days before they started.
“He was a mess,” said Florida Paul Maurice coach at the time. “That is the medical term. He was a mess.
“Matthew played with some injuries. We were not hopeful in the beginning that he would survive the first round. I just didn’t think he could do it, but what he is doing so well is that he is so smart. He managed himself around the ice and around the game he could still produce, but he did not take hits and he was in open ice.
“Then he just built that slowly and slowly came a little more … The closer we got towards the end of the final, it didn’t matter. It tears the Bot again, fine, come back in January. I would help the team win. And his last four games for me were the four best games he played for the Florida Panters.”
Selected by the Calgary Flames with the No. 6 Pick in the NHL Draft 2016, Tkachuk has 636 points (240 goals, 396 assists) in 642 matches in the regular season with the Flames and Panthers, and 84 points (32 goals, 52 assists) in 94 Playoff games.
He was taken over by Florida with a conditional fourth round pick in the NHL design of 2025 in an exchange with Calgary on July 22, 2022, for Forwards Jonathan Huberdau And Cole Schwindtdefender Mackenzie Weegar And a conditional first round pick in the NHL design of 2025.
Zito said that also Wednesday Tomas Nosek Has a “long -term injury” and is outside indefinitely. The 33-year-old attacker had nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 59 games in the regular season and three assists in 16 play-off games last season.
Nhl.com-editor-in-chef Bill Prize has contributed to this report
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