Will he? Won’t he? That’s what the Matthew Tkachuk situation looks like at the moment. The speculations surrounding Tkachuk’s injury have been numerous, and the updates plenty. Clarity? Hardly any. But, thanks to Jimmy Fallon, we heard something straight from the horse’s mouth.

When he appeared on the Jimmy Fallon Show, Jimmy inquired about Matthew Tkachuk’s injury status and whether he was okay. To everyone’s relief, the Florida Panthers right winger said, “Yeah, I’m feeling better. Just recovering right now.”

Talking further about the event, Tkachuk didn’t forget to mention, “Last two weeks I was representing my country. Was something that I’ll never forget.” Then, again, it would have been a surprise if they didn’t talk about the 4 nations’ face-off. 

But to focus on his groin injury, it was highly criticized for being fake. Fans alleged it became the Panthers’ strategy to save their star for the playoffs. Tkachuk had been on and off the ice during the 4 Nations Face-Off, managing to clock a little of 6 minutes of ice time during the high-octane final against Canada. Until Matthew spoke, the latest update arose from the Panthers coach Paul Maurice who said that Tkachuk’s injury is a bit longer term, but it’s not season-ending. Hence, it comes as a relief to most Panthers fans. 

But you know, the most interesting part of Matthew Tkachuk’s Jimmy Fallon appearance was the talks about fights in the Canada game and how it felt to represent the country at 4 nations face-off. 

Matthew Tkachuk fights in a 4-nations face-off and Dad’s reaction

After talking about his injury, Matthew Tkachuk’s conversation with Jimmy Fallon rightly slipped into the talks about the 4 Nations face-off. As the Florida Panthers star said, such an event happened “a decade ago” and was a great deal for him.

Tkachuk said he never had an opportunity to represent at the national level in such an event, but said, “All the guys were jacked up and I think that’s why you saw all the fights at the beginning of that game against Canada.” But when Fallon asked, was Matthew’s dad proud of the event?

Tkachuk said, “Yeah, I think he was pretty proud.” Talking more about it, Tkachuk said, “I think guys wanted to get our anger out of the way.”

But do you know what Tkachuk’s real mindset is? At the same show Monday, he said, “We grew up always competing against each other and dreaming eventually one day — he plays in Ottawa, I’m in Florida. So, we knew it was going to be tough in the regular season — but we always had the dream of playing with each other and it finally came true.” 

The 4 Nations Face0-Off became a monumental tournament in ice hockey history. With the Winter Olympics happening next year, these tournaments help the team to create better team chemistry and bonding. 

Sounds cool, right? 

Finally, the most important question of the year? Matthew Tkachuk’s thoughts on the 2026 Winter Olympics appearance. Talking about the same, he said, “We got so close with this tournament and looking at next year being kind of our chance at redemption, I truly believe in our chances. Wearing the USA crest, there is nothing like it. We have so much pride in it and we’ll be ready to go.”

Absolutely!

There is no more pride than representing Team USA for Matthew Tkachuk. Let’s see how the current season goes for him and the 2026 in the coming future.