{"id":391918,"date":"2026-01-05T15:03:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/391918\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T15:03:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:03:22","slug":"matthew-tkachuk-issues-injury-update-before-panthers-6-game-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/391918\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Tkachuk Issues Injury Update Before Panthers\u2019 6-Game Road Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Tkachuk will travel with the Florida Panthers<\/a> this week for the first time this season in a clear sign that his return from injury is getting closer than ever.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old forward has been recovering from an August surgery to repair a torn adductor and sports hernia.<\/p>\n

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Tkachuk sustained both injuries during the 2025 Four Nations tournament, but delayed surgery until after the Panthers won their second consecutive Stanley Cup title last June.<\/p>\n

The forward resumed skating<\/a> in a non-contact jersey after Christmas and practiced with the team before the Winter Classic last week. Tkachuk remains in the non-contact jersey for now, but he acknowledged<\/a> on Sunday that he’s nearing the final step in his recovery.<\/p>\n

“Every box that has had to be checked so far has been,” Tkachuk said. “The last one before playing is taking off the no-contact jersey. We\u2019ll have another few skates here and a couple calls and figure it out from there.”<\/p>\n

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Tkachuk confirmed he has a return date in mind but declined to share it. Florida\u2019s upcoming six-game trip begins Tuesday in Toronto and also includes stops in Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo, Carolina and Washington.<\/p>\n

Tkachuk hinted that if he returns during the trip, it would likely be toward the end of it, although he stopped short of revealing a particular date for his comeback.<\/p>\n

“Whether I\u2019m playing on this six-game road trip\u2014I mean, if it were to happen, [it ‘d] probably be towards the end of it, just because I\u2019m still in the non-contact jersey, but I don\u2019t even have a target right now, if that\u2019s it or not,” Tkachuk said. “So it\u2019s just gonna be nice to be on the road, getting the routine and figuring it out from there. But hopefully it\u2019s not too much longer before you\u2019re seeing me back out through the boys.”<\/p>\n

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\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk (19) looks on during a stoppage in play.James Guillory-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Tkachuk credited his teammates for keeping the team in the playoff mix despite having to navigate several major injuries to a few of their key players.<\/p>\n

Florida has played without Aleksander Barkov, Dmitry Kulikov and Seth Jones in recent weeks, but is coming off a win over the NHL-best Colorado Avalanche<\/a> to get closer to the second wild-card spot, only one point off of it after Sunday’s win.<\/p>\n

Florida opens its road swing Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> at 7:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

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Related: Blackhawks Announce Connor Bedard Injury Update Before Capitals Game<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Oilers’ Darnell Nurse Under Fire After Fight With Flyers’ Garnet Hathaway<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the NHL<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Tkachuk will travel with the Florida Panthers this week for the first time this season in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[91,144,257,62,57,5141,5,94,4,63,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-391918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-aleksander-barkov","9":"tag-colorado-avalanche","10":"tag-dmitry-kulikov","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-panthers","13":"tag-floridapanthers","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-matthew-tkachuk","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-panthers","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115843105218860327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391918","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=391918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}