Panthers’ Maurice Passes on Creating Most-Hated Line in Hockey — For Now

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice is in fine form, and the 2025-26 NHL season hasn’t even begun. In his media availability on Wednesday, the always personable bench boss with no bones about offering up a good sound bite gave reporters some early gold. He has ruled out — for now — creating one of the most chaos-inducing line combinations the NHL could dream up: brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk skating alongside Sam Bennett.

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“I don’t want to give everybody what they want with the two Tkachuk brothers together with Sam Bennett,” Maurice said. “They’ll be in jail before the puck drops.”

The comment, delivered with Maurice’s trademark dry humor, speaks to the sheer physicality and edge all three players bring to the ice. Matthew Tkachuk and Bennett have been core pieces of Florida’s identity for a few seasons. Brady Tkachuk is joining them this year, and he’s likely chomping at the bit. The Panthers are already one of the league’s most abrasive, hard-to-play-against teams, and Brady brings that same combative reputation from Ottawa. Putting all three together would be wildly entertaining, but it could be risky, given their willingness to take penalties.

Is This Line Coming At Some Point?

The idea that fans won’t get to see these three on the ice might be disappointing, but that doesn’t mean that day will never come. It’s a nuclear option the Panthers can turn to if they ever need. Depending on how a game shapes up, or if the tide of a game calls for a physical response, these three could be nearly impossible for opponents to handle physically and even harder to stay composed against. The trick will be ensuring that trio doesn’t cross over the line.

For now, the grouping remains a fun idea, nothing more.

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