Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk to be featured as cover star of EA Sports' NHL 26

Cameron Priester, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Aug 6, 2025

Published in Hockey

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Matthew Tkachuk’s year just keeps getting better.

As if his second Stanley Cup wasn’t enough, on Wednesday, video game giant EA Sports revealed that none other than the Panthers star winger will grace the cover of their latest hockey title, NHL 26, which will be released on Sept. 12, 2025.

Tkachuk will be the lone athlete on the game’s standard edition — pictured in the Panthers’ red home jersey, lifting the Stanley Cup overhead. However, on the Deluxe edition, Tkachuk is joined by his brother, Brady, a left winger for the Ottawa Senators, and father, Keith, who played 18 years in the NHL.

Both editions are currently available for preorder, but the Deluxe for $100 comes with a week of early access starting Sept. 5 and a “Matthew Tkachuk 99 OVR item.” The Standard Edition costs $70 to pre-order.

The game will be available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S and will feature gameplay enhanced by NHL EDGE, a data-tracking service employed by the league.

Prior to being announced as the game’s cover star, Tkachuk starred in the Panthers’ back-to-back-title run. This past season, the 27-year-old fought through multiple significant injuries to return for the playoffs, where he had three goals and four assists in the six-game Stanley Cup Final versus the Edmonton Oilers.