FORT LAUDERDALE — Matthew and Brady Tkachuk took the ice as NHL teammates for the first time Thursday morning when the Florida Panthers opened training camp, capping a blockbuster offseason acquisition that cost the franchise three first-round and one second-round draft picks.
Florida acquired Brady, 27, from the Ottawa Senators last June in exchange for the haul of picks. The younger Tkachuk had served as Ottawa’s captain. He has spent roughly a month in South Florida getting acclimated — golfing with teammates and settling into a new locker room — ahead of what will be his ninth NHL season. Matthew, meanwhile, enters his 11th, Florida Hockey Now reported.
“It’s been a great last couple of weeks, just getting to know some of the guys,” Brady said at Panthers media day Wednesday. “A big message yesterday [was] that summer’s over and now it’s hockey season … I just can’t wait to get out there with the group.”
The brothers have shared a roster only twice before, both times representing the United States — at the 2025 4-Nations Face Off and the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, where the Americans won their first men’s Olympic gold medal since 1980. Matthew said he never expected an NHL reunion. “We’d better enjoy this because we’re probably never going to be able to play with each other in the NHL,” he recalled thinking during the 4-Nations tournament.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, however, plans to keep the siblings on separate lines to start the season. Maurice is trending toward slotting Brady alongside Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart rather than pairing him with Matthew. “I don’t want to give everybody what they want with the two Tkachuk brothers together with Sam Bennett in the middle,” Maurice said with a grin. “They’ll be in jail before the puck drops.”
Matthew played along when told Brady said being a Panther still hasn’t fully sunk in. “I think he’s lying,” Matthew said with a smirk. “He told me he felt really comfortable the other day. He’s been here [in Florida] for like a month, but it feels like he’s been here for five, 10 years.”
Brady offered a more measured take on no longer facing his brother as an opponent. “I guess it’ll be nice that we’re going to be on the same side,” he said. “But at the end of the day, not just us two, but this whole group’s going to be pushing each other but to keep improving, keep getting better.”
Maurice said veterans are expected to play early in the preseason, making both Tkachuks probable for Sunday night’s home opener against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Panthers open the regular season at Carolina on Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. on ESPN, with the home opener against the Minnesota Wild set for Oct. 10 at 6 p.m.