FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk is back with the Florida Panthers, ready to help the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions try to return to the playoffs and start tuning up to play for USA Hockey at next month's Milan Cortina Olympics.
Tkachuk — who had surgery to repair a torn adductor and sports hernia over the summer, about two months after helping the Panthers win their second straight Stanley Cup — went through morning skate on Monday and was added to the lineup for Florida's game against San Jose that night.
“I'm feeling great. Just so excited to be back," Tkachuk said. "It was a little over five months since the surgery, so just chomping at the bit to come back, really. And, yeah, happy that the day is finally here. I wasn’t coming back until I was feeling 100%. I came back not 100% one time, and that’s only a playoff thing, so I’m happy with the whole recovery process.”
Tkachuk had missed nearly a full year — 72 games over 11 1/2 months — of regular-season hockey; he couldn't play in the final 25 games last season after getting hurt in the 4 Nations Face-Off and has missed the first 47 games of this season.
He comes back with 35 games remaining in Florida's season and the Panthers entering Monday four points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
“He's ready to play,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice, adding that he's not going to over-use Tkachuk right out of the gate. “We're happy to have him back, for sure.”
Florida has stayed in the race despite having Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Tomas Nosek yet to play this season because of injuries and a slew of other players filling the injured list. Dmitry Kulikov, Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt have all missed most of the season; of late, standouts Seth Jones and Brad Marchand — who are both set to be Olympians, Jones for the U.S. and Marchand for Canada — have missed time as well.
“It's seven, eight guys that at some point have gone down — at the same time, too, which is never easy," Tkachuk said. "They’ve done a great job staying in the fight. With that being said, we have to go on a run here. We've got to get back in a playoff spot. We’re not happy with being out of the playoffs, but they have done an amazing job of staying in the fight, so very proud of them for that.”
The Panthers went 38-30-4 in those last 72 regular-season games that Tkachuk missed, meaning they won barely more than 50% of the time. But they went 16-7 in last year's playoffs, with Tkachuk playing in all 23 of those contests.
He got what went into the record books as the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6 of last year's final series against Edmonton; Florida won that game 5-1, with Sam Reinhart scoring four goals.
“I’m here to be a hockey player," Tkachuk said. “I’m just so excited to be back and I’m not here to cheer from the sidelines. I am here to be out there competing with the guys, and I am just so excited to be doing that and just be around the guys and be in a competitive environment again. It’s not like I can just dip my toe like I have a preseason. ... I’ve told them, ‘I’m coming back, throw me in the fire.’ We need these points.”
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CORRECTS YEAR: Florida Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk shows fans the team's 2025 Stanley Cup ring before placing it inside the display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Eduardo Lima/The Canadian Press via AP)
Florida Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk shows fans the team's 2025 Stanley Cup ring before placing it inside the display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Eduardo Lima/The Canadian Press via AP)
U.S. President Donald Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace,” in a text message released on Monday.
Trump's message to Jonas Gahr Støre appears to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. On Saturday, Trump announced a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight nations that have rallied around Denmark and Greenland, including Norway.
Those countries issued a forceful rebuke. But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to de-escalate tensions on Monday. While the White House has not ruled taking control of the strategic Arctic island by force, Starmer said he did not believe military action would occur.
"I think this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion,” he said.
Still, the American leader's message to Gahr Støre could further fracture a U.S.-European relationship already strained by differences over how to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, previous rounds of tariffs, military spending and migration policy.
In a sign of how tensions have increased in recent days, thousands of Greenlanders marched over the weekend in protest of any effort to take over their island. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post Monday that the tariff threats would not change the their stance.
“We will not be pressured,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business, minerals, energy, justice and equality, told The Associated Press that she was moved by the quick response of allies to the tariff threat and said it showed that countries realize “this is about more than Greenland.”
“I think a lot of countries are afraid that if they let Greenland go, what would be next?”
Trump's message to Gahr Støre, released by the Norwegian government, read in part: “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
It concluded: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
The Norwegian leader said Trump’s message was a reply to an earlier missive sent on behalf of himself and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in which they conveyed their opposition to the tariff announcement, pointed to a need to de-escalate, and proposed a telephone conversation among the three leaders.
“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” the Norwegian leader said in a statement. “As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to president Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
He told TV2 Norway that he hadn't responded to the message, but "I still believe it’s wise to talk," and he hopes to talk with Trump in Davos this week.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the president’s approach in Greenland during a brief Q&A with reporters in Davos, Switzerland, which is hosting the World Economic Forum meeting this week.
“I think it’s a complete canard that the president would be doing this because of the Nobel,” Bessent said, immediately after saying he did not “know anything about the president’s letter to Norway.”
Bessent insisted Trump “is looking at Greenland as a strategic asset for the United States,” adding that “we are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to anyone else.”
Trump has openly coveted the peace prize, which the committee awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado last year. Last week, Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, who said he planned to keep it though the committee said the prize can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others.
In his latest threat of tariffs, Trump indicated they would be retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from the European countries to Greenland — though he also suggested that he was using the tariffs as leverage to negotiate with Denmark.
European governments said that the troops traveled to the island to assess Arctic security, part of a response to Trump’s own concerns about interference from Russia and China.
Starmer on Monday called Trump’s threat of tariffs “completely wrong” and said that a trade war is in no one’s interest.
He added that “being pragmatic does not mean being passive and partnership does not mean abandoning principles.”
Six of the eight countries targeted are part of the 27-member European Union, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trade. European Council President Antonio Costa said Sunday that the bloc’s leaders expressed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion.” He announced a summit for Thursday evening.
Starmer indicated that Britain, which is not part of the EU, is not planning to consider retaliatory tariffs.
“My focus is on making sure we don’t get to that stage,” he said.
Denmark’s defense minister and Greenland’s foreign minister are expected to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels on Monday, a meeting that was planned before the latest escalation.
Associated Press writers Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida; Emma Burrows in Nuuk, Greenland; and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
The Danish navy's inspection ship HDMS Vaedderen sails off Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish soldiers disembark at the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish soldiers disembark at the harbor in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
