Where will Brady Tkachuk play with Panthers? Paul Maurice hints at lineup plan
The hockey world as a whole and Florida Panthers fans in particular became excited over the weekend by the tantalizing possibility that newly acquired forward Brady Tkachuk could end up playing on a line with his brother Matthew Tkachuk and center Sam Bennett.
The combination would create arguably the most hated forward line in the NHL.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice pumped the brakes on that — at least to start.
And he has good reason.
Maurice, speaking on a Panthers-hosted panel at the Baptist Health IcePlex on Friday ahead of the NHL draft, said he is most likely going to have Brady Tkachuk begin on Florida’s top line with center Aleksander Barkov and right winger Sam Reinhart.
“The reason for that,” Maurice said, “would be that I could learn more about a player when he plays with Barkov than with any other player.”
Reinhart said he is intrigued by the possibility of playing alongside Brady Tkachuk, a massive presence at 6-4 and 226 pounds who has scoring touch (463 career points in 572 games) to go along with his size.
“I don’t think people realize the speed he plays with,” Reinhart said. “They see the size, they see how heavy is with that edge he plays, but the speed he plays with is pretty special.”
Now, this doesn’t completely rule out a double Tkachuk line at some point down the road. Maurice is known to tinker with his lines throughout the season if he needs any sort of spark.
And no matter how Maurice deploys his forwards, the Panthers’ top three lines are going to be stacked with talent.
But if the Brady Tkachuk-Barkov-Reinhart is indeed one line, the next two should be pretty much set from there. Carter Verhaeghe would stick with Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, while Anton Lundell would center a line with Eetu Luostarinen and Brad Marchand.
“We were joking about the depth chart,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said Tuesday at Brady Tkachuk’s introductory press conference. “If we go to play a game and the Lundell line goes out first against the first line, and then Matthew and Benny and Carter go match up against the second line, [Brady Tkachuk is] on the third line. That could very well fit. So if I’m sitting here, that fan part of me, I’m so excited, just to watch the hockey. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
For Brady Tkachuk’s part, he’s open to playing wherever the Panthers put him.
“Those decisions aren’t up to me,” Brady Tkachuk said. “That’s up to Paul. What they see fit, we’ll do that to the best of my ability.”
From there, Florida’s current options to fill the three spots for the fourth line consist of newly acquired Garnet Hathaway along with Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, Cole Reinhardt, Sandis Vilmanis, Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt (a pending restricted free agent).
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