NHL 24: Five stars who would make the perfect cover athlete

Matthew Tkachuk

Matthew Tkachuk is a man that LOVES getting under the skin of the opponent. He plays a very physical game but backs it up with a ton of offense as well. Many people were not giving the Florida Panthers much of a chance in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs this year. If you ranked all 16 teams that made the postseason, the Florida Panthers would have been ranked 16/16.

In the first round of the postseason the Panthers drew the Boston Bruins. The team that had the best regular season record in NHL history. The Panthers ended up going to 3-1 in the series to the Bruins before ultimately winning the series in seven games. After they beat the Boston Bruins, the Florida Panthers went on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes, before making it to the Stanely Cup Finals. Unfortunately for the Florida Panthers and Matthew Tkachuk, they ran into a brick wall in the form of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Matthew Tkachuk has now gone back-to-back seasons with more than 100 points, and he has done it with two different teams. Matthew Tkachuk had a career best 109 points this past season with the Florida Panthers and came two goals shy of tying a career high in goals by scoring 40 goals.

Matthew Tkachuk is a very young player and EA Sports tends to lean that way when choosing the cover athlete. The Florida Panthers went on a miracle run to the Stanley Cup Finals, one that many won’t forget. However, no one likes to remember the losing Stanley Cup team, but Matthew Tkachuk’s dominance all year may have won him the honor.