Aleksander Barkov Joined By Three Other Injured Florida Panthers Players As They Skate Privately
The Florida Panthers were pleased to see four injured players skate today as Aleksander Barkov, Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek and Dmitry Kulikov continue their rehab.
Video Transcript
And speaking of returns, Matthew Tkachuk, coming off his latest horrendous Stanley Cup, injury.
It's become a theme with him, but he has two rings, so it all works out.
But he came back to the Florida lineup in that game that featured, the Bob versus Ned goalie fight.
Florida lost 4-1.
To San Jose.
No shame in that because the Sharks are an upstart team this season.
But how long before we see Matthew Tkachuk get back up to full speed?
Mike, I'll go to you first on this one.
Yeah, any coincidence that he comes back, and we see a goalie fight?
Ryan?
Like, right.
You're, you're talking about the impact of Matthew Tkachuk.
And it's like he just, it reverberates, reverberates throughout the lineup.
Like, chaos...
He's in there.
All of a sudden, he's mixing it up.
I forget what the defenseman he was mixing it up with all night, but, you know, we get a goalie fight.
You know, when we're talking about, is he back up to speed?
He sure looked back up to speed.
Like, I know the points probably aren't coming, You know, it was one game, so.
Right.
But we'll see how long that comes.
But, you know, I think to just his leadership and just him dragging everyone in the fight.
You- you saw it right away.
That's a Panthers team that has a lot of ground to make up.
So it's not gonna be easy for them to get in the playoffs.
But I was thinking about this last night.
Like, Toronto.
Florida, are both on the outside looking in.
I expect both to be in a playoff spot, and then I'm looking at it like, Okay, who do they take out?
And... You know, maybe it's Boston, maybe it's, you know, a team like, out of the Metro.
But for that wildcard spot.
But yeah, I expect Florida to be there, and I expect, you know, Tkachuk, he's got a couple weeks now to get up to speed for the Olympics, so I think that's probably the main motivator.
It's just, you know, hopefully he stays healthy because...
It already looks like he's gonna be fighting a lot between now and Milan.
Right.
Drew, how lo- you know, like, when you come back into a lineup after injury?
How long?
Uh, it depends.
Of course, on what the injury was, I'm sure.
But, like, How long does it take to actually get up to 100%?
'Cause we know, again, notoriously, hockey players are extremely, extremely tough.
They probably come back as soon as possible, sometimes too soon, to make sure that they can help their team.
So, like, when should we expect Matthew Tkachuk to be, you know, the ultimate Matthew Tkachuk, if you will, be?
Guys, I couldn't be happier about this.
It's, everything's lining up.
He's just.
Normally, it takes 5 to 10 games, I think.
For a guy like Matthew Tkachuk to really, and I mean, their trainers are amazing there.
But it's just, nothing stimulates the game action like actually playing a game.
I thought that, like I said, I think as an American now, it's setting up where he's gonna get his 5 or 10 games in and be peaking right around game one.
And I don't know if you guys have looked at the schedule, but it's also Team USA has a pretty good schedule to start that tournament for guys.
Like Matthew Tkachuk.
They have a pretty easy, easier first three games.
I think they have- They have Latvia first, I think, right?
Latvia, Denmark, and Germany, So...
I like it.
I think right when Matthew Tkachuk's needed, right about.
In about, when things get serious at the Olympics, he's gonna be peaking.
So, I think it's setting up pretty good for us.
