Matthew Tkachuk Could Miss Time With 4 Nations Injury
The Florida Panthers did not have an update on Matthew Tkachuk after Friday night's practice, but he may miss some time after sustaining an injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Florida Panthers may re-enter play from the 4 Nations break without star forward Matthew Tkachuk.
Tkachuk was officially designated as Day-to-Day by head coach Paul Maurice at Florida’s practice on Friday morning. He will miss Saturday’s game against the Seattle Kraken and his status past that is uncertain until he gets evaluated by the team’s medical staff upon his return from Boston.
He played just seven minutes during the United States’ 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game while dealing with an apparent groin injury he suffered earlier in the tournament.
The man known for valiantly playing during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final with a broken sternum played just 6:47 and missed most of the game from the second period onward. In a winner-take-all game, that is not a good sign for Matthew Tkachuk.
“He usually battles through anything,” His brother, Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said per NHL.com. “But I think it’s got to be really serious for him not to be able to go because he’s such a warrior.”
While Tkachuk’s timeline is currently unknown, they do have a few options depending on the severity of the injury.
Breakout rookie Mackie Samoskevich is expected to return to the lineup on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken after sustaining an injury in Florida’s penultimate game before the international break. He missed one game, but is now healthy again, per head coach Paul Maurice.
The Panthers will bump up Evan Rodrigues to the second line with Samoskevich and Sam Bennett for the time being. Jesper Boqvist will jump up to the third line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
If Tkachuk’s injury is significant enough to keep him out long-term (and thus bring up the need for the LTIR), it could allow the Panthers to become buyers for players like Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, Brock Boeser or Patrick Kane (among others) at the deadline.
In that case, Tkachuk would likely be out of the lineup until the start of the postseason but would be eligible to return upon the beginning of it, which is a loophole both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights have taken advantage of en route to Stanley Cups.
For now, the Panthers will have to wait and see just how serious this injury is when Tkachuk returns from Boston.
Panthers at 4 Nations, Final Stats:
Sam Reinhart (CAN): four assists, four games played
Matthew Tkachuk (USA): two goals, one assist, three games played
Aleksander Barkov (FIN): one goal, one assist, three games played
Sam Bennett (CAN): one goal, three games played
Game-tying goal in Four Nations Championship Game:
Anton Lundell (FIN): one goal, three games played\
Niko Mikkola (FIN): one assist, three games played
Eetu Luostarinen (FIN): one assist, three games played
Gustav Forsling (SWE): zero points, three games played