Can Matthew Tkachuk will the Panthers into the playoffs?
TORONTO — Matthew Tkachuk expected this season would be different.
New team. New conference. New lifestyle, even.
Tkachuk was ready for all of it when the Calgary Flames traded him to the Florida Panthers last July.
But a photo finish to the Panthers’ playoff race? Tkachuk didn’t see that coming. And with the Panthers one point back of an Eastern Conference wild-card slot with six games to go, it’s not the most comfortable scenario, either.
“I’ve never been in this position where we’re like the one team on the outside fighting for the last, last spot,” Tkachuk told ESPN this week. “I’ve either been out of the playoffs with x-many games left, or you’re in first place. I’ve been in the playoffs for most of my career, so I still have that itch and that drive and a hunger to make it. We have to do it. Have to. We’ve got to keep turning the page.”
Tkachuk says all this with a mischievous glint in his eye. Like he knows — even if others doubt it — that Florida will find a way. It’s that spark the Panthers coveted when they acquired Tkachuk in the blockbuster deal last summer that sent Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar to Calgary.
The move didn’t come without controversy. Tkachuk was a pending restricted free agent at the time who told Flames general manager Brad Treliving he wouldn’t be signing in Calgary long-term. So, Treliving inked Tkachuk to an eight-year, $76 million extension that facilitated Tkachuk’s imminent departure to the Panthers without a hiccup.
Meanwhile, Florida was reeling from its disappointing second-round ouster in the playoffs after loading up with the likes of Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot in an ultimately failed attempt to win the Stanley Cup despite earning Presidents’ Trophy honors for a franchise-record 122-point regular season.
Huberdeau — and his 30-goal, 115-point campaign — was a significant part of Florida’s success. Suddenly he was on the way out with Weegar. Giroux and Chiarot departed in free agency. Paul Maurice had been hired to replace Andrew Brunette as head coach.
And Hurricane Tkachuk was about to make landfall.
“I actually remember my dad [former NHL player Keith Tkachuk] saying like, ‘I feel like getting traded is harder than people think because everything’s different,'” Tkachuk said. “I kept telling him, ‘I don’t think it’s going to be that hard. I think it’s going to be easy.'”
The fit was immediately flawless.
Tkachuk bound onto the south Florida scene with five goals and 16 points in his first 11 games. It was a seamless transition from the career-best year Tkachuk produced with the Flames in 2021-22, when his 42 goals and 104 points in 82 games proved the known on-ice agitator was more than just an enduring pest. Tkachuk could be an offensive powerhouse, too.
That has been the case in Florida. Even as the Panthers stumbled their way to repeatedly poor results, Tkachuk was pulling his weight putting up top-10 numbers in the league. That led to being one of Florida’s representatives in February’s NHL All-Star Game, where he was crowned MVP.
The 25-year-old didn’t let up from there. Through 72 games, Tkachuk had climbed to fifth overall in points (with 97), to go with 35 goals. His consistency would eventually be a catalyst to Florida surging from bottom dweller to playoff contender.
On Jan. 1, the Panthers looked dead in the water at 16-18-4 and sitting 23rd overall in the league. Only Montreal had a worse record in the Atlantic Division.
Then, Florida flipped a switch with a 10-3-2 run into early February and wouldn’t lose back-to-back games again until mid-March. That skid — dropping four straight before topping Toronto in overtime Wednesday — put the Panthers back behind the Penguins (who are one point up with a game in hand) for the second wild-card slot. Setbacks aside, the fact that the Panthers are even teetering toward making it in is a miracle.
“Oh, we’ve fought,” Tkachuk said. “We’ve fought from 10 points back to get ourselves in the mix. Just to be in the race at the end of the year, that’s all you want. That’s all you can ask for. But it’s hard to make the playoffs. I just think back to how around Christmas and early January we were not in a great spot standings-wise, and the fact that we’ve been able to fight our way back to being in the hunt here, it’s really good to be able to do that.”
It’s rare that Tkachuk doesn’t exude confidence. But the unfamiliar territory of jockeying this late in the season for a postseason future brought on unanticipated mental battles. Tkachuk hadn’t gone consecutive games without a point since late December until he failed to get on the scoresheet in Florida’s recent losses to the Rangers and Senators. That led to some internal reflection.
“I catch myself at times maybe trying a little bit too much,” Tkachuk said. “What works for me is what I have to do consistently night in and night out. I know that it will help our team if I’m playing and I’m going. I have to get back to my game. I haven’t maybe had my best last couple of games, but I still feel like my best hockey is yet to come. So hopefully I get a chance to show that here and help us make playoffs.”
Tkachuk’s teammates won’t bet against that. Forward Colin White knew Tkachuk well before they were Panthers and can attest that — even amid another potential career year — Tkachuk’s top qualities have remained the same.
“He just slows the game down better than anyone I’ve seen in a long time,” White said. “Around the front of the net, he’s always been amazing there and is now probably one of the best net-front guys in the NHL. But the way he slows things down when he gets the puck and can buy time for everyone is truly special.”
If it weren’t for the otherworldliness of one Connor McDavid (with 143 points and counting), Tkachuk might feature prominently in the Hart Trophy conversation. That’s not a place most pundits could have put Tkachuk even two years ago — just ask his coach.
Maurice saw plenty of Tkachuk from his perch behind the Winnipeg Jets bench from 2016-17 to 2020-21. He recognized Tkachuk then as a nuisance. It took getting to know Tkachuk in Florida for Maurice to realize the winger is so much more than an on-ice character.
“I had no idea truly how special his hands are. [And] he’s been an incredibly well-raised young man,” Maurice said. “[I say that] because for me, I’m just probably like you: He’s in Calgary. I’m in Winnipeg; I’m not thinking that on the bench. I’m thinking profanity. And that’s been the biggest [shift] … there’s a quiet maturation in his game. You go back and look and he’s had [12 penalty minutes] in about his last [23] games. We need him on the ice. So, his maturation as a player, his relationships with the referees, his relationships with the game [have evolved].”
It’s not only about how Tkachuk conducts himself on skates that has changed Maurice’s mind. Tkachuk’s presence in the Panthers’ dressing room swiftly brought to light more personality that Maurice didn’t expect to find.
“Matthew has incredible relationships with the support [staff],” the coach said. “Whether it’s the bus driver or therapists or the arena guys, and it’s every day and it’s ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ What a special young man.”
That’s the Tkachuk whom White has always known, with more depth than just an aggravating gnat in some post-whistle scrum.
“I think you see how competitive he is. He’s just got that mean streak and he’s not afraid,” White said. “But maybe you don’t see how much he cares. Not only about hockey but about you as a person and how you’re doing every day. Away from the rink he’s always texting guys and seeing how they’re doing. He’s just a great leader and a great friend.”
Tkachuk skillfully sidesteps talking about himself too much or delving into the details of what has allowed for his quick success in the Panthers’ lineup. With a simple shrug, Tkachuk acknowledges some guys would struggle after being traded, but says his Panthers’ teammates were so welcoming it made getting settled easy.
The change of scenery helped, too. Tkachuk admittedly enjoys the less taxing travel schedule playing in the Eastern Conference compared with the West. And he has taken advantage of more outdoor time. An avid golfer, Tkachuk said his game was “really good at the beginning of the year,” but when the Panthers buckled down post-Jan. 1 for their playoff push, he put extracurricular activities on the back burner.
Frankly, he’ll be happy not to wield a club again for weeks. If that’s the case, then Florida — and Tkachuk — have completed an improbable mission to regain postseason form.
“My off days I’m actually using to help myself,” Tkachuk said. “So that’s been a big difference. It’s that point in the year where you have to learn from each game because the next thing you realize, it’s a week from now and you’re out of it. And we want to stay in.”
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Bradford Doolittle
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese-born player to be enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, one of five new members of baseball’s hallowed institution.
After enduring the baseball tradition known as a rain delay, the five speeches went off without a hitch as the deluge subsided and the weather became hot and humid. Joining Suzuki were pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, and sluggers Dick Allen and Dave Parker, both of whom were enshrined posthumously.
“For the third time, I am a rookie,” Suzuki said, delivering his comments in English despite his long preference for conducting his public appearances in Japanese with the aid of an interpreter.
For the American audience, this provided a rare glimpse into Suzuki’s playful side. Teammates long spoke of his sense of humor behind the closed doors of the clubhouse — something the public rarely saw — but it was on full display Sunday.
When Hall voting was announced, Suzuki fell one vote shy of becoming the second unanimous selection for the Hall. He thanked the writers for their support — with an exception.
“Three-thousand [career] hits or 262 hits in one season are achievements recognized by the writers,” Suzuki said. “Except, oh, one of you.”
After the laughter subsided, Suzuki mentioned the gracious comments he made when balloting results were announced, when he offered to invite the writer who didn’t vote for him home for dinner to learn his reasoning. Turns out, it’s too late.
“The offer to the one writer to have dinner at my home has now … expired!” Suzuki said.
Suzuki’s attention to detail and unmatched work ethic have continued into the present day, more than five years since he played his last big league game. That was central to his message Sunday, at least when he wasn’t landing a joke.
“If you consistently do the little things, there’s no limit to what you can achieve,” Suzuki said. “Look at me. I’m 5-11 and 170 pounds. When I came to America, many people said I was too skinny to compete with bigger major leaguers.”
After becoming one of the biggest stars in Japanese baseball, hitting .353 over nine seasons for the Orix BlueWave, Suzuki exploded on the scene as a 27-year-old rookie for the Seattle Mariners, batting .350 and winning the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP honors.
Chants of “Ichiro!” that once were omnipresent at Mariners games erupted from the crowd sprawled across the grounds of the complex while the all-time single-season hits leader (262 in 2004) posed with his plaque alongside commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark.
Despite his late start in MLB, Suzuki finished with 3,089 hits in the majors and 4,367 including his time in Japan. Suzuki listed some of his feats, such as the hit total, and his 10 Gold Gloves.
“Not bad,” he said.
Sabathia’s weekend got off to a mildly rough start when his wife’s car broke down shortly after the family caravan departed for Cooperstown. They arrived in plenty of time though, and Sabathia was greeted warmly by numerous Yankees fans who made the trip.
After breaking in with Cleveland at age 20, Sabathia rocketed to stardom with a 17-5 rookie season. Alas, that came in 2001, the same year that Suzuki landed in the American League.
“Thank you most of all to the great players sitting behind me,” Sabathia said. “I am so proud and humbled to join you as a Hall of Famer, even Ichiro, who stole my Rookie of the Year Award in 2001.”
Sabathia focused the bulk of his comments on the support he has received over the years from his friends and family, especially his wife, Amber.
“The first time we met was at a house party when I was a junior in high school,” Sabathia said. “We spent the whole night talking, and that conversation has been going on for 29 years.”
Parker, 74, died from complications of Parkinson’s disease on June 28, less than a month before the induction ceremony. Representing him at the dais was his son, Dave Parker II, and though the moment was bittersweet, it was hardly somber.
Parker II finished the speech with a moving poem written by his father that, for a few minutes, made it feel as if the player nicknamed “The Cobra” were present.
“Thanks for staying by my side,” Parker’s poem concluded. “I told y’all Cooperstown would be my last rap, so the star of Dave will be in the sky tonight. Watch it glow. But I didn’t lie in my documentary — I told you I wouldn’t show.”
Parker finished with 2,712 hits and 339 homers, won two Gold Gloves on the strength of his legendary right-field arm and was named NL MVP in 1978. He spent his first 11 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and entered the Hall representing the Bucs.
Wagner, whose 422 career saves ranks eighth on the all-time list, delivered an emotional but humorous speech about a small-town guy with a small-for-a-pitcher 5-foot-10 stature who made it big.
“I feel like my baseball life has come full circle,” Wagner said. “I was a fan before I could play. Back when baseball wasn’t so available on TV, every Saturday morning I watched Johnny Bench and so many of the other greats on a show ‘The Baseball Bunch.'”
In one of the moments of baseball serendipity that only Cooperstown can provide, the telecast flashed to Bench, sitting a few feet away from where Wagner was speaking.
Allen’s widow, Willa, delivered a touching tribute to her late husband, who died in 2020 after years of feeling overlooked for his outstanding career. The 1964 NL Rookie of the Year for the Phillies, Allen won the 1972 AL MVP for the Chicago White Sox.
“Baseball was his first love,” Willa said. “He used to say, ‘I’d have played for nothing,’ and I believe he meant it. But of course, if you compare today’s salary, he played almost for nothing.”
Willa focused on the softer side of a player who in his time was perhaps unfairly characterized for a contentious relationship with the media.
“He was devoted to people, not just fans, but especially his teammates,” Willa said. “If he heard someone was sick or going through a tough time, he’ll turn to me and say, ‘Willa, they have to hear from us.'”
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Alden Gonzalez
The Atlanta Braves acquired veteran starting pitcher Erick Fedde from the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later or cash, both teams announced Sunday.
As part of the deal, the Cardinals will cover the majority of what remains of Fedde’s $7.5 million salary for 2025, a source told ESPN.
Fedde, 32, is a free agent at season’s end, making him a surprising pickup for a Braves team that was swept by the Texas Rangers over the weekend and is 16 games below .500, trailing the first-place New York Mets by 16½ games.
But the Braves have sustained a slew of injuries to their starting rotation of late, with AJ Smith-Shawver (torn ulnar collateral ligament), Spencer Schwellenbach (fractured elbow), Chris Sale (fractured ribcage) and, more recently, Grant Holmes (elbow inflammation) landing on the injured list since the start of June.
Fedde reestablished himself in South Korea in 2023, parlaying a dominant season into a two-year, $15 million contract to return stateside with the Chicago White Sox. Fedde continued that success in 2024, posting a 3.30 ERA in 177⅓ innings with the White Sox and Cardinals.
This year, though, it has been a struggle for a crafty right-hander who doesn’t generate a lot of strikeouts. Twenty starts in, Fedde is 3-10 with a 5.22 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.
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