Stanley Cup Champion Matthew Tkachuk Ready to Turn Page to 2024-25 Season

After being the life of the Stanley Cup party, Matthew Tkachuk is ready to turn the page and lead the Florida Panthers to another one in 2025.

Matthew Tkachuk had himself quite the summer following the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup championship.

After partying with the Cup for a week in South Florida, taking it for a dip in the ocean at Fort Lauderdale Beach, he had a two-day celebration with it in St. Louis. That tour around his hometown — from great moments with his family and even a horse at the Anheiser Bush Brewery — made him even hungrier for a second go-around with the Cup.

And from that moment on, he was razor focused on winning another one.

“I feel like I was very lucky because I got to have my time with the Cup in St. Louis very shortly after winning, like mid-July at the latest,” Tkachuk said. “I think I was the second player to have it, so it was good. You could keep the momentum going, everyone was so jacked up back in St. Louis.

“I was here for a week and just had a great time with the fans here, and then by the time I went to St. Louis it was my first time going back, so they were excited to see me and it was such an amazing time. Bringing it home. People flew in from everywhere, it was a great way to get all the family and all my friends together. It was mid-July, so right after that, you get ready for now and I feel great.”

Tkachuk is used to having a short offseason by now — after all, the Panthers made it to the Cup Final the previous year — but this one is different for a few reasons.

The obvious is that the Panthers are coming off of a *win* instead of a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, but even more importantly in Tkachuk’s case, he is healthy. He fractured his sternum in that 2023 Cup; Final and spent most of the summer rehabbing the injury.

This year, he was able to focus solely on getting ready for this upcoming season and he will feel a lot more comfortable on the ice because of it.

“This summer, I was able to train instead of rehab,” Tkachuk said. “That was a big bonus for myself. I’m used to [a short offseason] after last year. I feel like [this offseason] was shorter than last year by a week or two, so maybe it’s a little bit different, but I want to get used to these offseasons, that’s for sure.

“Once I had my day with the Cup, that’s when the mental switch flipped. I’ve had enough time where I’ve had enough rest, I’ve had enough time off, as much as I need to get myself mentally and physically ready”

Being back in South Florida, Tkachuk has seen just how much momentum the championship has spurred for South Florida.

Seeing all of the signage around Fort Lauderdale and South Florida in general, all of the fans wearing Panthers championship gear in the streets, has him hungry for even more.

After all, that was one of Tkachuk’s major goals when he was first traded to the Panthers in 2022.

But that next goal all starts with training camp on Thursday.

“I think I just look at it like we have such incredible momentum on the ice and off the ice in the community right now, so we got to keep that going as long as possible,” Tkachuk said.

“It’s hockey buzz in South Florida. I’ve played in a Canadian market, I’ve been in St. Louis the summer after they won, but I’ve never seen buzz like this. Everywhere I go or everywhere I look in public it’s Florida Stanley Cup champion, so it’s been incredible. It really has. So, I just want to carry that momentum and not think about it. You can’t win the Cup tomorrow, but we can try to build our game to where we have a chance to make the playoffs, and then we’ll see.”