Matthew Tkachuk gets to Florida, says trade left him ‘very ecstatic’

SUNRISE, Fla. — Only a couple days after being traded, Matthew Tkachuk already feels at home in Florida.

The newly acquired Florida forward’s parents are building a home about an hour from where the Panthers play their home games. He has familiarity with the Panthers, is already friends with some of his new teammates, is working on quickly building relationships with head coach Paul Maurice and general manager Bill Zito.

For the first time, Tkachuk – whose father Keith was a longtime NHL star and brother Brady plays for Ottawa – began explaining why he believes leaving Calgary for Florida is the best move for him right now.

“It was just kind of putting myself in a position to reevaluate everything – life, on-ice, off-ice, the future and I came to the decision that I was going to look elsewhere and have a change,” Tkachuk said in an interview with Sportsnet’s Ryan Leslie, streamed on Instagram. “And Florida kind of fell right into my lap within the last week or so. So, very happy with a very tough process. Hard, mixed emotions, sad, happy, everything, but very ecstatic to be ending up in Florida.”

The Panthers will formally introduce the 24-year-old Tkachuk at their arena. Tkachuk plans to spend the next few days in South Florida, looking for a place to live and starting to truly get settled in an effort to have as few loose ends as possible to deal with when training camp begins in September.

He was traded in exchange for fellow left wing Jonathan Huberdeau – Florida’s all-time scoring leader – and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, along with prospect Cole Schwindt and a lottery-protected 2025 first-round draft pick. As part of the deal, Tkachuk agreed to an eight-year, $76 million contract with the Panthers, days after