Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice has seen a lot in his 25 years in the NHL. The 56-year-old has even worked through a franchise relocation when the Hartford Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes.
Maurice has coached in junior hockey, the AHL, the KHL, and the NHL. However, through all that, he has not seen anything quite like the repeated clutch performances of Matthew Tkachuk.
“On other teams, I’ve seen elite guys before. They just don’t look like him as much. His style is unique,” the Panthers head coach said in a Q&A with The Athletic.
Tkachuk is far from the perfect player on the ice. He isn't the fastest skater, something Maurice himself acknowledged. However, none of that matters because Tkachuk's killer instinct is otherworldly.
“His hands are incredible. His visual acuity must be phenomenal — the number of pucks he knocks out (of) the air. But the big gameness, I’ve never seen that before,” Maurice said.
Tkachuk has scored nine goals and 21 points through 16 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs thus far. In the Eastern Conference Finals, he scored three game-winners in four games against Maurice's former Carolina Hurricanes.
It's an incredible run of form that certainly makes the Panthers look like geniuses. Florida acquired Tkachuk last summer from the Calgary Flames with the hope that the 25-year-old could continue to play at a superstar level.
Now, the Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1996. However, the job isn't finished. The team is chasing their first Stanley Cup in team history. And Tkachuk will play a massive role in that chase, as he's done off playoffs long.
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