Matthew Tkachuk Out ‘Near-Term,’ Timeline for Return Still Pending

A timeline for Matthew Tkachuk’s return to the Florida Panthers lineup is still pending after he sustained an injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Matthew Tkachuk’s status remains up in the air a week after he left the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game with an apparent groin injury.

After undergoing tests on Sunday and Monday — and later joining Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show in New York on Monday night — Tkachuk’s timeline for return from the injury is still pending.

Tkachuk has returned from New York following his appearance on the late night show.

“Nothing new,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He is out near-term, we know that, but we’re just making sure we get as many ideas on treatment and things like that. I’ll give you the update when I get the final update of what we’re doing.”

‘Near Term’ means Thursday night’s Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Edmonton Oilers and Saturday night’s game against Tkachuk’s former Calgary Flames, at the very least, but the Panthers are continuing to evaluate their star player at this time.

Maurice said that nothing has changed with Tkachuk’s injury since he returned from New York on Tuesday.

“Nothing,” he said. “We just don’t need to hurry right now because he is not playing on the weekend and we’re not jamming him back into the game. We’re just going to make sure we see as many people as we need to see and we got a really good handle on how it wants to be.”

Tkachuk has 22 goals and 57 points in 52 games for the Panthers this season.

He came into the 4 Nations break on a six-game point streak, where he scored seven goals and 13 points.