It may be Brady Tkachuk’s first season with the Florida Panthers, but he’s already close to breaking franchise records.
Tkachuk, 27, was subject to a considerable amount of criticism after a slow start to his time in Florida after requesting a trade out of Ottawa over the summer. Now, it’s safe to say that any doubts regarding his ability are a thing of the past. He’s currently chasing his third natural hat trick of the season for the most in franchise history.
Chasing History
As things currently stand, Tkachuk is tied with Pavel Bure and Carter Verhaeghe for the most career natural hat tricks with the organization and he’s done it in less than a month.
Tkachuk nearly earned sole possession the record on Saturday against the Washington, but was held to just two back-to-back goals during the Panthers‘ 4-2 loss to the Capitals.
With his next hat trick this season, natural or not, Tkachuk will become just the fourth player in Panthers history to score three or more hat tricks in a single season according to the NHL’s Records site. Pavel Bure scored three or more goals in four games on two occasions (1999-00 and 2000-01), while Ray Sheppard and Oli Jokinen both had three hat tricks in a season one time during their time with the Panthers.
If Tkachuk is able to score a third natural hat trick this season, he’ll accomplish something that hasn’t been done in quite a while. The last player to register three natural hat tricks in a single season was then Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek in the 2007-08 season. Only 12 players have accomplished that feat in the history of the NHL, and only seven players have been able to do it within the past 100 years according to the NHL Media Site.
Notable Milestones Already
On Saturday, Tkachuk did hit a couple of major milestones though according to the NHL’s Media site. He became just the third player in Panthers history to have three multigoal games in less than 20 games played, alongside Bure who scored multiple goals in three of his first nine games as a Panthers and Mark Parish who did so in 14 games.
After being held without a point in his first five games with the Panthers, Tkachuk has had 19 points (10 goals and nine assists) in his next 12 games. For context, if he hadn’t played in his first five games, Tkachuk would be on the same point-per-game pace as Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.
It seems clear that Brady Tkachuk has ensured that he’ll always be a controversial figure in the world of hockey. His exit from Ottawa will always linger, regardless of what happens moving forward. Despite that, he’s putting himself on pace to be one of the most valuable goal-scorers in the history of the Florida Panthers organization just over a month into his stint with the team.
While it will take quite a while for him to catch the likes of Aleskander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, and Jonathan Huberdeau as the Panthers’ all-time top scorer, it’s certainly possible if he continues scoring at such a high level.
Panthers’ Brady Tkachuk Already On the Verge of Making Franchise History