The 4 Nations Faceoff absolutely met all the expectations of hockey fans, both in Canada and the United States, despite their loss. We witnessed incredible games, exceptional intensity, and high-stakes playoff-style hockey, right in the middle of February. However, this excitement unfortunately comes with some downsides.

Take the Boston Bruins, who are losing star defenseman Charlie McAvoy for the long term, or the Florida Panthers, who will now have to do without forward Matthew Tkachuk, likely for an extended period as well.

In any case, there were fears of an injury for Tkachuk, and the Panthers have just confirmed this nightmare scenario for them.

Matthew Tkachuk is officially injured, Panthers confirm

Given that they quickly ruled him out for tomorrow’s game and that his own brother, Brady, mentioned that the situation “doesn’t look good at all,” expectations are that this is a serious injury for Matthew Tkachuk.

The Panthers have now announced that he is “OUT” of their lineup until further notice.

As a result, they have made adjustments and completely reshuffled their forward lines.

“Without Tkachuk tomorrow, expect the Panthers’ forward lines to look like this against Seattle.

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart

Samoskevich-Bennett-Rodrigues

Luostarinen-Lundell-Boqvist

Greer-Nosek-Gadjovich”

And according to reports, there is growing concern in Florida regarding Matthew Tkachuk’s health.

Yesterday, during the final of the 4 Nations Faceoff, Tkachuk did not play in the third period or overtime because he was in too much discomfort.

Let’s not forget the worrying statement from his brother, Brady, regarding Matthew’s injury:

And an excerpt:

“Obviously he battles through absolutely everything, and, yeah, I don’t think it’s too good. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what ends up happening, but I know he was really disappointed.”

– Brady Tkachuk

This is a developing story, but I really don’t expect to see Matthew back in uniform anytime soon.