Florida’s final practice before the holiday break is Monday. They will then fly to Raleigh, North Carolina to play the Hurricanes on Tuesday.
After the holiday break, Florida will play three home games in a span of four days (Dec. 27, 29, 30) before hosting the New York Rangers in the 2026 Discover Winter Classic at loanDepot park on Jan. 2 (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS).
When asked Wednesday by NHL.com if Tkachuk would be ready to play in the Winter Classic, general manager Bill Zito said, “I don’t know.”
“The prognosis is the same that I said at the beginning of the season,” Zito said. “They told me around Christmas, so I don’t know what that means. He’ll play when he’s ready.”
Zito said at the start of training camp that the Panthers had hoped to have Tkachuk skating with the team again in mid-December.
Brady and Matthew were among the first six players named to the United States’ preliminary roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 this February.
“It was December, January, is what we were told,” Maurice said in November of the initial timeline for Tkachuk’s rehabilitation.
“It’s an eight-week window, but that’s where these injuries are. He just has to hit a bunch of milestones before he can be pushed. I just can’t say when he will be back with us.”
In addition to Tkachuk, the Panthers (18-13-2) are without captain Aleksander Barkov who had knee surgery after being injured early in training camp and is expected to be out 7-9 months. Forwards Tomas Nosek (knee) and Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder), and Cole Schwindt (broken arm) are also each out long term but could start coming back following the Olympic break at the end of February.
Florida enters Friday one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
