It has been a turbulent season for Panthers’ star Matthew Tkachuk. From the highs of playing with Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off to the lows of the groin injury he suffered at the very tournament that’s kept him sidelined for over two months, the 27-year-old has experienced quite a lot this year. Although the injury wasn’t too serious, Tkachuk is only just nearing a return ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is, without a doubt, an irreplaceable and pivotal part of the Panthers with his take-no-prisoners attitude on the ice and his 22 goals and 35 assists. As a result, former NHL star David Backes opened up about his role in the Panthers’ team.
Whenever Tkachuk stepped onto the ice this season, he was a treat to watch and never let his fans down. With the Panthers entering the next round, Backes had a piece of advice for the team.
During the Empty Netters podcast, he said, “The Tkachuk factor is so terrifying to me. The defensive changes, you know, say what you will, I think a lot of very intelligent Florida Panthers fans, when you saw some of the turnover on D, were like, ‘It’s not that big of a deal; we did some good job replacing it.’”
But Backes saw it differently. “I think I think they’re a little bit worse. I think the D core is a little bit worse,” he said. “I think Florida is too–call it hurt also–but they are too tired to win the cup again. But they’re not too tired to win a round. Like, I think they will run out of steam if they keep winning, but not in the first round.” Not the ringing endorsement Panthers fans will be hoping to hear.
While Backes didn’t rate their chances without Tkachuk, their head coach, Paul Maurice, did provide a hopeful update regarding Matthew Tkachuk’s return. “This week is a really important week for him. He’s not that far off. If he’s not [ready for Game 1 of the playoffs], he’s very, very close. We’re not missing this by two weeks. It might be a day or two to [get to] a full push. If he’s got a little residual soreness, we may have to hold another day or two, but he’s not that far off,” Maurice said.
Meanwhile, Tkachuk isn’t the only player gearing up for a comeback. Recently, Maurice highlighted how others are also getting ready ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Paul Maurice confident about the return of not just Matthew Tkachuk, but other key stars
Despite putting on a good display this season, injury concerns have continued to haunt the Panthers. Apart from Tkachuk, the likes of Sam Bennett, Sasha Barkov, and Sam Reinhart have also missed recent games. Ahead of the playoffs, Maurice made a hopeful admission about getting most of the stars fit for the playoffs.
He said, “You always want every advantage that you can possibly get, home ice and all that, but we’ve got to heal some of these guys, and we’ve got to give ourselves a chance to be physically right when (the playoffs) start, and our schedule won’t allow it.” It’s true that the NHL calendar isn’t really built for R&R time, but that just means the team with the best roster management has all the advantages.
“We’ve just had five sets of back-to-back here in the last month of the season, so we were going to get stacked up on, and we knew it. So we’re not really resting guys, we’re just healing them. If we think we can make major improvements on anything that they’re dealing with, we’ll pull them. We’ll keep them out,” continued Maurice.
The Panthers have already secured their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and now it’s a matter of when their injured stars like Matthew Tkachuk can make their return. Can they defend their title this season? Let us know your views in the comments below.
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