[FanIn80]

It was nearly two months ago, back in mid-April, when Matthew Tkachuk was facing the possibility of not being ready for the Florida Panthers at the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"Yeah, I didn't know if I was going to come back at the start," Tkachuk said Monday, when he was named as one of the first six players for the United States at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. "Kind of found out the day before I was going to have a chance to play. Day of, honestly."

"The first round was definitely the worst I felt, by far," Tkachuk said. "And just knowing that that was going to be -- other than this round -- that was our toughest round, playing Tampa, so I knew that even at nowhere close to what I expect out of myself, I knew I needed to help out as best I can if we were going to get by them.

"So, I was proud of myself and happy for playing in that round."

https://www.nhl.com/news/matthew-tka...lt-for-florida