Matthew Tkachuk’s 13-Game Surge Puts Panthers’ Scoring Record in Reach
With 20 points in 13 games, Tkachuk is tracking toward 129 and has Florida’s 115-point franchise mark in sight.
Matthew Tkachuk’s start has put a Florida Panthers scoring record within view. He has 20 points through 13 games in 2026-27, and his current rate projects to 129 over the expanded 84-game schedule. That would top Jonathan Huberdeau’s franchise record of 115, set in 2021-22.
The projection is a marker, not a forecast. It assumes Tkachuk maintains a pace that can shift over a long season. Still, his early production gives the Panthers a compelling reason to watch the record chase: he’s already seven points ahead of Huberdeau’s pace through the same number of games.
Assists are driving the early pace
Tkachuk’s four-point night, all assists, came Tuesday as Florida defeated Winnipeg at Canada Life Place. It was his third multi-point game of the season. He now has four goals and 16 assists in 13 appearances, averaging 1.23 assists per game.
That mix looks different from his previous 100-point seasons. Tkachuk reached 104 points in 2021-22, then set his career high with 109 in his first season in Florida in 2022-23. He scored at least 40 goals in each campaign. At his current goal rate, he would finish with about 26 over 84 games, while his assists are carrying the record-level projection.
A 100-assist season would be rare, and the current pace makes it a possibility to track rather than an outcome to assume. Even short stretches of lower production would change the math. For Florida, the more immediate takeaway is that Tkachuk is creating offense at a rate that has put both the points record and Huberdeau’s assist mark in play.
His Florida debut offers a useful comparison
Tkachuk also opened his first Panthers season with a strong 13-game stretch. In 2022-23, he had 17 points through 13 games, with five goals and 12 assists. This season’s 20 points put him three ahead of that early pace, while his four goals are one fewer.
The comparison reaches beyond scoring. Tkachuk recorded 30 penalty minutes in his first 13 games with Florida and has 14 so far this season. He also had three scoreless games in that opening stretch in 2022-23; this season, he has been held without a point twice through 13 games. Those figures describe a more productive start, though they don’t tell us how the rest of the season will unfold.
His 2021-22 start offers another reminder that early pace can be a poor guide to the finish. Tkachuk had six goals and 11 points in his first 13 games that year, then finished with 42 goals and 104 points. A quieter opening didn’t prevent a career-best campaign; a hotter one now doesn’t guarantee a record.
Huberdeau’s mark remains the target
Huberdeau’s 115-point season set the bar after a decade with Florida. He became the first Panther to reach 100 points in a season, and his record-setting pace had him at 13 points after 13 games in 2021-22. He had three goals and two multi-point games in that span. Tkachuk has 20 points and three multi-point games after the same number of appearances.
Huberdeau also owns the franchise single-season mark with 85 assists. Tkachuk’s 16 assists so far put him on a pace that could challenge it, but sustaining more than one assist per game across a full schedule is a demanding task. The record chase will depend on whether his playmaking rate holds through the inevitable stretches when chances don’t turn into points.
Florida’s team start gives that individual pursuit a different backdrop. The Panthers went 10-2-1 through 13 games in Huberdeau’s record season, following a first-round loss the previous spring. This season, Florida is 7-4-2 after 13 games. Tkachuk can threaten a personal milestone while the club still has work to do in the standings.
The 2026-27 regular season is scheduled for 84 games, two more than the previous 82-game format, giving Tkachuk additional chances to build his total. Those games also add to the demands of a full season, and his scoring rate will have to survive changing matchups, stretches of travel and the ordinary ups and downs of team play. After 13 games, the record is in reach on pace alone; the next test is whether Tkachuk can keep producing while Florida pushes to improve its start.
