- Paul Maurice says he will not put the Tkachuk brothers on a line with Sam Bennett
- Florida held media day Wednesday with the first camp practice set for Thursday
- Read below for the full quote and where the Panthers lines are actually headed
Paul Maurice has already shot down the line every Panthers fan has been drawing up all summer.
The coach was asked at Wednesday’s media day about stacking Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett on one unit, an idea that has been floating around since Brady arrived from Ottawa this offseason.
“I don’t want to give everybody what they want with the two Tkachuk brothers together with Sam Bennett. They’ll be in jail before the puck drops.”
He has a point. That group would run away with the league lead in penalty minutes by Halloween. All three have ranked inside the NHL’s top 20 in PIM since the start of the 2022-23 season, and Brady and Bennett dropped the gloves with each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off while Bennett was wearing Canada red.
Reality looks a lot more conventional. Brady projects to open on the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, while Carter Verhaeghe slides in next to Bennett and Matthew.
Maurice was in midseason form for most of the morning. Asked what it is like having both Tkachuks in his room, he reached for a comparison.
“It’s like having our own podcast in the locker room.”
On what the brothers pull out of each other, he gave a one-word answer: “Love.” And when someone asked where Brady could still get better, the 59-year-old shut the door. “If there is a piece of his game he can improve, I’m not giving it to you,” Maurice said.
Wednesday’s session ran in Fort Lauderdale, one day before the first practice of camp:
Barkov was there too, a year after shredding his knee on the opening day of last year’s camp. He played his first game in seven and a half months in May, then won a world championship with Finland. Take a look at the captain checking in:
Florida missed the playoffs last season and still opens camp as the betting favorite to win a third Cup in four years. Maurice, sitting within striking distance of 1,000 career wins, has the deepest forward group of his time here. Our full Panthers outlook for 2026-27 covers the rest of the roster.
Fans will keep asking for the jail line anyway. Give it until the first time the Panthers trail by two in the third.
