Fully healed and hungry to win, Matthew Tkachuk ready to lead Panthers into new season
Tkachuk racked up 40 goals and 109 points during his first season with Florida
As the Florida Panthers were packing up their locker room before embarking on the team's season opening three-game road trip, Matthew Tkachuk walked through the door and took in the scene.
Standing before a small group of journalists, he joked about how short his summer was.
"It almost feels like part two of last year and not a full, new slate," Tkachuk said. "I'll take that as a good thing."
Florida's 25-year-old superstar is coming off a massive first season with the Panthers.
He led the team in scoring, was the All-Star Game MVP (a game Tkachuk and the Panthers hosted), a Hart Trophy finalist and he proved to be one of, if not the most clutch playoff performer in franchise history.
Finally, starting Thursday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, the self-proclaimed hockey-nut gets to resume doing what he does best and loves most.
"I've been waiting for this for months," he said. "It starts now."
In front of what should be a raucous State of Hockey crowd, the Panthers will kick off the defense of their Eastern Conference crown against the Minnesota Wild at Excel Energy Center.
If that wasn't a tough enough draw, Florida opens its schedule with three straight on the road, all against teams that made the playoffs last season.
"We're definitely not going to be easing our way into this year," Tkachuk said. "This is a very tough road trip to start. We'll try to get some points in each of the three games and if we can walk out of there above .500 I'm sure we'll be very happy with it."
Florida comes into the season as a team that knows it can skate with anyone on any night. They are built tough and battle tested.
Tkachuk is the leader of a group that should contend for the Stanley Cup, but he knows that while Florida has the capability of being a top team in the NHL, the idea they're going to pick up where they left off is a flawed notion.
"There's still a lot of new guys, so there's still some changes, and we have three really key pieces out of our lineup, so it's definitely not going to be an easy start for us," Tkachuk said. "But I think we all believe in each other and we believe in what we've built here, and we just want to keep that rolling."
There is no arguing that Florida will be tested right off the bat, but remember, starting on the road against tough opponents is something that served them well during the playoffs.
Speaking of the postseason, Tkachuk said that despite the way things ended, he isn't carrying a feeling of unfinished business into the new year.
He did, however, acknowledge that there is still a hunger that lingers inside after coming so close to the ultimate prize.
"We obviously are not happy…you can't write a worse ending for us, but that's how it goes, one team wins it and one is going to lose," Tkachuk said. "We gained a lot of good things from the whole year last season and we've got to bring it into this year."
LATEST THN FLORIDA STORIES
