Tkachuk's NHL 26 Is Another Sign Of How Far Panthers Have Come

On Monday afternoon, a historic and landmark announcement was made in favor of the Florida Panthers. One of the team's biggest faces, Matthew Tkachuk, has been given the honor of being the cover athlete for EA Sports NHL 26. To some, it's just a video game cover.

However, behind this honor is a deeper meaning for the franchise. Anyone who has been around the NHL long enough knows why this level of exposure is a welcome change for the Panthers. For context, Tkachuk appearing on the cover of next year's game puts him in select company.

Now, the superstar winger is only the second Florida Panthers player to be the cover athlete of an NHL video game from EA Sports. The first Panther to do so was John Vanbiesbrouck. 'Beezer' made the cover of NHL 97, which was an honorary award for Vanbiesbrouck after he backstopped Florida to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final.

The NHL 26 cover serves as another reminder to fans that the Panthers have arrived and are in their fullest form. They are now a franchise that's credible enough to earn privileges like this. Of course, this hasn't always been the case. Despite Florida's recent run of success and dominance, they have been one of sports' most underwhelming franchises, historically.

In the 28 seasons before 'Chucky' arrived, the Panthers made the playoffs just eight times. Even worse was that the team only advanced past the first round twice(1996, 2022). In the 2000s, the Cats reached the lowly depths of obscurity, missing the playoffs for 10 consecutive years from 2000-01 to 2010-11.

That drought was the longest in NHL history at the time. It's not anymore. Thankfully, the Buffalo Sabres exist. Still, the Panthers have had a dark, gloomy cloud hovering over them for years. Due to the lack of success, few players were allowed to flourish off the ice and gain some high-end media exposure.

Things were so bad that it was hard to find any coverage of the team, even from local South Florida news outlets. Nobody discussed the Panthers. Nobody cared about them. It felt as if they just existed, and even people would probably tell you they had forgotten the team was around.

Being irrelevant is worse than being disliked. Florida was irrelevant. However, that isn't the case anymore. Seeing one of their own in this capacity must be a thrilling sight for Panthers fans. As stated before, the last time a Florida player graced the cover of EA's NHL was Vanbiesbrouck, before the start of the 1996-97 season.

NHL 97 was released during a time when the major video game consoles were the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn(that flopped), and the original PlayStation. The iconic 16-bit era was ending, and a new generation of gaming began to sprout. We went from 2D pixelated graphics to 3D graphics with polygons. Fast forward to 2025, and the world of gaming, much like everything else, has changed drastically.

Sega no longer makes hardware. Microsoft has been around with the Xbox line since 2001. Nintendo, although still a force with the popular Switch, is no longer in its golden era. Sony has released four more iterations of their PlayStation since a Panther last made a video game cover.

On one end, that information is sad. However, on the other end, it's splendid to see a return to Florida relevance in the gaming world since the mid-90s. Other than the Panthers being a terrible team throughout the gaming industry's evolution through 21st century, they also haven't had many big personalities for marketing either.

This is another big reason as to why Florida hasn't had a player do anything like this in so long. No matter what era you look at, Florida's stars have always been quiet and stoic people. Even today, that is the case. Aleksander Barkov has been the face of the franchise since 2013.

Throughout his whole career, Barkov hasn't been a noticeable personality. He doesn't do many interviews and has been known for speaking very little. He never even gets into trash-talk when on the ice. He has always been silent, focused, and even at times has gotten nervous when talking to others. He lets his play and skills do the talking.

Tkachuk, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. The 27-year-old has always been a colorful personality. As EA's tweet said, 'he's loud'. Panthers fans know he can get under the opponent's skin. He can instigate. He always says what's on his mind.

The decade-long veteran is bombastic, confident, brash, and bold. Some might insinuate that he's cocky. Needless to say, it's easy for him to be noticed during a hockey game. Matthew Tkachuk is a player that the NHL needs. He can sell the game and the overall sport.

He can stir up news with his yapping on the ice, and you can find him on highlight shows across North America for great plays he makes. The NHL has an issue with balance when it comes to its stars.

Some guys like Connor McDavid, Artemi Panarin, and Auston Matthews put up all the gaudy stats and create the world's best highlight reels. However, they don't have personalities that capture the imagination of fans, specifically casual fans. The league needs more guys to draw people in.

Matthew Tkachuk is one of those guys. The St.Louis native plays great, has a big mouth, and is funny enough to even be featured in commercials. He is perfect for the media in any regard. Tkachuk's engaging ways have made him one of the more prominent faces and players in the league. Considering who he is as well as him being a top player on the best team in hockey, EA knocked their NHL 26 cover athlete selection right out of the park.

Fun Fact: Radek Dvorak made the cover of NHL All-Star Hockey 98 for the short-lived Sega Saturn. NHL All-Star Hockey 98 was the final installment of Sega's hockey video game series.