Earlier today, George Richards of Florida Hockey Now passed along a note from Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice indicating that Matthew Tkachuk could begin skating by the end of the month.
The news does not significantly alter Tkachuk’s recovery timeline, which is still expected to be around mid-December. Still, it’s confirmation that he’s on the right track to returning on time from his groin injury, which is nothing but music to the ears of the Panthers and the USA’s Olympic roster.
Florida’s last time on the ice came with a Stanley Cup above his shoulders for the second time in as many years. Florida has struggled out of the gates without their top two highest-paid forwards and would significantly benefit from adding Tkachuk’s goal-scoring and physicality back into the mix.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (per James Nichols of NJ Hockey Now), the New Jersey Devils are contemplating an attempt to bring back a familiar face. Pagnotta indicated that the Devils are interested in acquiring forward Blake Coleman from the Calgary Flames, who scored 57 goals and 94 points in 237 games for New Jersey from 2016 to 2020. Unfortunately, Coleman has a $4.9MM salary for this year and next with a 10-team no-trade clause, which is something the Devils couldn’t afford unless they moved out their own salary.
- Outside of ending the Boston Bruins’ seven-game winning streak, the Ottawa Senators are dealing with some injury concerns on their blue line. The Senators announced that defenseman Nick Jensen had left the game due to an upper-body injury, and didn’t have any updates regarding his status after the game. Jensen finished the game with one hit and two giveaways with a -1 rating in 12:02 of action.
- The Montreal Canadiens are dealing with some injury concerns from their lopsided loss to the Dallas Stars tonight. Montreal shared that Alex Newhook had left the game with an undisclosed injury and is still being evaluated. His only mark on the scoresheet was his brief time on ice of 5:54.