Florida Panthers’ Brady Tkachuk Closing In On Franchise Record After Explosive Start

Tkachuk targets franchise record in debut Panthers season© Getty via AFP

Brady Tkachuk arrived in Florida under a cloud. He forced his way out of Ottawa, struggled through his first five games without a single point, and critics were quick to remind everyone why the trade raised eyebrows. That feels like a long time ago now. The 27-year-old forward has racked up 19 points across his next 12 games and is now one natural hat trick away from owning a Florida Panthers franchise record that nobody has come close to touching in nearly two decades.

Tkachuk Is One Hat Trick Away From Sole Possession of the Franchise Record

Tkachuk is currently tied with Pavel Bure and Carter Verhaeghe for the most career natural hat tricks in Panthers history, and he has matched them in a fraction of the time it took either. What makes this run unusual is the pace. He scored two big goals against Washington on Saturday but could not finish the third. The Panthers ultimately fell 4-3 to the Capitals, and that chance slipped away. One more completes the tie-breaking record.

Beyond that, the broader hat trick chase carries serious historical weight. If Tkachuk scores a third hat trick of any kind this season, he will become just the fourth player in Panthers history to record three or more hat trick games in a single season, joining Bure, Ray Sheppard, and Oli Jokinen. And if he makes it three natural hat tricks specifically? That feat has not been accomplished since Thomas Vanek did it with the Buffalo Sabres in 2007-08. Only 12 players have ever done it in NHL history, with just seven managing it in the past century.

The Numbers Paint a Stark Picture of His Recent Form

The turnaround since those scoreless opening games has been dramatic. Tkachuk has posted 19 points, with 10 goals and nine assists, across the 12 games following his pointless five-game stretch. For some perspective on what that production actually means: had he not played those first five games at all, his per-game rate would sit alongside Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.

He also became just the third player in Panthers history to record three multi-goal games within his first 20 games, joining Bure, who managed it in nine games, and Mark Parrish, who did it in 14. These are not arbitrary milestones. They say something real about how quickly he has embedded himself in this lineup.

His exit from Ottawa will not be forgotten, especially not among Senators fans. That history follows him. But right now, Brady Tkachuk is scoring at a rate that forces you to pay attention regardless of how you feel about how he got here.