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Brady Tkachuk was the best player for Team USA in the recently completed 4 Nations Face-Off. He scored three goals in two games against the eventual champions from Canada, and he also delivered a physical presence that few in the tournament could come close to matching. The excitement of the high-profile games have come to a conclusion and the NHL's regular season continues Saturday, but the younger of the two Tkachuk brothers will not take the ice Saturday night with his Ottawa Senators teammates against the Montreal Canadiens.
Tkachuk was clearly laboring by the end of the championship game in the 4 Nations series, and it appeared that he had struck his knee on the goal post in the Americans' preliminary round game against Sweden. Tkachuk would score a tying goal in the title game, but he did not have his full skating burst in the final moments of the third period or overtime.
The specific injury still has not been identified, but NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Senators are not concerned that the problem is a serious one. He classified the injury as “day to day.”
Brady Tkachuk and his brother Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers were the two leaders that came within one overtime goal of winning the tournament championship.
Tkachuk brothers leadership led to record North American TV ratings
The 4 Nations series came into existence as a move by the NHL to come up with an event that was more competitive than the league's recent All-Star Game formats. Additionally, the league had heard the desires of the NHL Players Association to resume “best on best” competitions. The NHL had not sent its players to the Winter Olympics since 2014 and the league's players had not participated in any kind of international competition since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
The nine year gap led to a remarkably competitive tournament featuring the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland. The preliminary round game between the United States and Canada featured three fights in the first nine seconds of the first period. Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk were featured in two of the fights. In the Americans' opening game win against Finland, both brothers scored a pair of goals.
The title game from the TD Garden in Boston was watched by 9.3 million viewers in the United States and 6.3 million in Canada. The two games between the United States and Canada featured some of the most intense and highest caliber play that long-time NHL observers had seen in years.
NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy next February.
