Tkachuk on Panthers' trip: Will he play? His season debut after August surgery may be looming

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SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers leave for a road trip Monday. Matthew Tkachuk will be on the plane for the first time this season.

His uniform is coming along for the ride, too. Time will tell if it gets used.

Tkachuk said Sunday that he has a soft target for what will be his debut game this season. He wouldn't say what that target it, but since he's going on the trip it's reasonable to think that Tkachuk — who had surgery in August to repair a torn adductor and sports hernia — could be in the lineup sometime on this six-game swing.

“Every box that has had to be checked so far has been and I guess the last one before playing is taking off the no-contact jersey,” Tkachuk said Sunday, after completing a workout while the Panthers were playing the Colorado Avalanche, a game that Florida won 2-1. “We'll have another few skates here and a couple calls and figure it out from there, but we’re feeling pretty good right now.”

Tkachuk returned to practice with the team last week while wearing a yellow non-contact jersey. He had been skating on his own for at least a couple weeks before that, part of his ramp-up from the surgery.

Tkachuk has not played since Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, when the Panthers clinched their second consecutive title by again topping the Edmonton Oilers. He went through the summer trying to rehab — but eventually decided that he needed the surgery knowing it would cost him the first few months of the season.

“The patience has been tested a lot,” Tkachuk said. “But I guess it’s kind of what I signed up for by making the decision last late February or early March by riding it out.”

The trip starts Tuesday in Toronto, and the six-game road swing — the Panthers will come home for a few off days along the way — also includes games at Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo, Carolina and Washington.

After the Panthers won their second straight Stanley Cup in June, Tkachuk revealed the severity of the injuries he sustained while playing for Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. He missed the final 25 games of the regular season but returned for Game 1 of the Panthers’ first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tkachuk had 23 points — eight goals and 15 assists — in 23 playoff games, including seven points in the Stanley Cup Final. Winning the Cup, he said, made playing through the injuries more than worthwhile.

“I wouldn't change it for the world,” Tkachuk said. “Lucky to have our team's name on the Cup one more time.”

And his focus now is primarily on the Panthers, but he acknowledged that it's hard not to already be thinking about the opportunity to wear USA Hockey's colors again at the Milan Cortina Olympics taking place next month.

“We need every point we can right now, and I’m a Florida Panther. That’s my team right now,” Tkachuk said. “And for two and a half or three weeks, I’ll be on another team. And I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty excited for that as well.”

The Panthers have been without a slew of key players all season, including captain Aleksander Barkov, defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and now defenseman Seth Jones — who was injured in the Winter Classic on Friday, out on Sunday against Colorado and Florida will get word on Monday about his timeline to return.

Barkov — a “freak of nature," Tkachuk said — tore his ACL in October, but is already doing some light skating and could return at some point this season. Tkachuk seems to be, at the most, a couple of weeks away. And he lauded teammates for keeping the Panthers in the playoff mix.

“I don’t look at it like they’re treading water. I think they’ve played some amazing hockey,” Tkachuk said. “I mean, it’s hard to do with so many guys out of the lineup and the depth has been tested. And they have passed the test, I think. What they’ve been able to do has been very impressive.”

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