{"id":386375,"date":"2026-01-02T10:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T10:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/386375\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T10:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T10:38:25","slug":"panthers-matthew-tkachuk-will-not-play-in-winter-classic-despite-practice-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/386375\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers&#8217; Matthew Tkachuk will not play in Winter Classic despite practice return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Considering all the injuries they have weathered during the 2025-26 NHL season, the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/florida-panthers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Panthers<\/a> (21-15-3) should not feel too worried about their standings placement. The two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions are just one point behind the Buffalo Sabres for the final Wild Card slot in the Eastern Conference. Most importantly, they are <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/florida-panthers\/panthers-news-aleksander-barkov-major-step-injury-rehab-surgery\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">starting to get healthier<\/a>. Fiery forward <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/matthew-tkachuk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew Tkachuk<\/a> is inching closer toward his season debut, but it will not come in the Winter Classic.<\/p>\n<p>The man widely considered the heart and soul of the Panthers is back at practice after undergoing surgery to repair a torn abductor muscle and sports hernia in August. He is not ready for in-game action, though, and will thus remain inactive for Friday&#8217;s matchup versus the New York Rangers (19-18-5). Head coach Paul Maurice <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Mandoman12\/status\/2006809662910509199\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">confirmed the news<\/a>, per Armando Velez of Locked on Florida and The Hockey News.<\/p>\n<p>Tkachuk will watch on as the two squads collide in Miami Marlins&#8217; LoanDepot Park. He would surely welcome the opportunity to participate in this proud NHL tradition, but it is import to prioritize the big picture. The 28-year-old left winger has ambitious goals in 2026. He aims to help the Panthers pull off the first three-peat since the New York Islanders&#8217; storied dynasty did so in the 1980s. Tkachuk is also expected to be a key member of the United States national team in the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nhl\/florida-panthers\/panthers-news-nhl-stunned-sam-bennett-team-canada-olympic-snub\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">upcoming Winter Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If No. 19 is going to handle such crucial responsibilities after a long layoff, then some caution may be necessary. Following the Winter Classic, Florida will host the incredibly dominant Colorado Avalanche on Sunday and then begin a stretch where it plays nine of its next 10 games on the road. A healthy Matthew Tkachuk could be mighty valuable during that time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Considering all the injuries they have weathered during the 2025-26 NHL season, the Florida Panthers (21-15-3) should not&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,94,4,7901,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-386375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-matthew-tkachuk","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nhl-injury","15":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115825076342210786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}