It’s been a hot minute since the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup consecutively, and the Cats’ stars are still taking it easy. Yet, it was still a bit of a surprise when Stugoz, who co-hosts The Dan Le Batard Show on ESPN radio, caught up with Matthew Tkachuk at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. It turns out that the two-time Stanley Cup champion is competing in a different tournament.

You see, the Florida Panthers captain is part of the 2025 American Century Championship with fellow sports icons like Travis Kelce, celebrities like Miles Teller, and more. Yet, it seems right now no conversation is complete without at least one Edmonton Oilers-related question. So the host asked whether Tkachuk feels it’s easy for them to win the Stanley Cup after beating their bitter rivals twice. Tkachuk had an interesting answer.

“No, it’s hard,” confessed Matthew Tkachuk before recalling a slightly different question he had to answer before the interview. Questions like: “‘Can’t you just let let Edmonton get it?’ Or, ‘Do you feel bad for them?” recalled the 27-year-old. However, the NHL forward had no sympathy for the Oilers because two years ago, no one had any sympathy for the Panthers.

“I’m like, you don’t feel bad for anybody because at the end of the day, we lost to Vegas a few years ago, and nobody gave a [ __ ] about us,” said the Panthers’ alternate captain. Tkachuk joked that people who asked him those questions must be Western Canadians. But jokes aside, the Panthers’ 4-1 blowout against Vegas in the 2023 final still stings after two wins.

It’s also clear that Matthew Tkachuk and Co. have no soft corner for their Stanley Cup rivals. In fact, this year, the chirping gave away just how much the two teams disliked one another. “Multiple people, who are involved or close enough to hear it all, say this is the nastiest trash-talking Stanley Cup Final they’ve ever seen,” NHL insider James Duthie wrote on X.

“Usually, some subjects are off-limits. Not here. Everything on the table. Pure verbal hate,” added the TSN reporter. For now, though, the Florida hockey star has put that rivalry in the back of his mind until next season. And that’s why the NHL star is having some fun playing golf.

Matthew Tkachuk spoke about his love for other sports

The Florida Panthers’ alternate captain discovered his love for hockey from none other than his Hall of Famer father, Keith Tkachuk. In his 18-year career, Sr. Tkachuk played 1201 games and scored 538 goals with teams like the Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues, and more. Yet, the NHL veteran never forced his sons to play hockey all the time. In fact, it was he who got them into other sports.

“In the summer, it was always like, put the bag away, go grab the sticks, play some golf, play baseball, play lacrosse, just everything,” Matthew Tkachuk recalled his father’s words. Keith Tkachuk wanted his kids to love sports as a whole and not just hockey, and safe to say he succeeded. However, there was a reason why his eldest son chose golf during the break.

While the 27-year-old liked golf as a sport, he liked its laid-back nature compared to hockey. “It’s not a very physical sport because I don’t need another physical sport in my life after going through the grind of hockey,” the Cats forward confessed during the interview. Then again, who could blame him? After all, Brady Tkachuk’s brother has sustained some brutal injuries.

Earlier this year, Matthew Tkachuk suffered a massive injury while at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The injury kept him away for months, and even though he returned for the playoffs, he still hadn’t healed completely. “Matthew Tkachuk says he tore the adductor off the bone and was dealing with a hernia on the same side of his body,” insider Frank Seravalli reported Tkachuk’s confession after winning the Stanley Cup.