Tkachuk disses Edmonton, makes pit stop at Elbo Room at Panthers’ Stanley Cup parade

Somewhere between his 10th half-spilled light beer and the end of the Florida Panthers’ championship parade route, Matthew Tkachuk was going to pass by his favorite Fort Lauderdale landmark and just about every one of the tens of thousands of Panthers fans who flooded Florida State Road A1A on Sunday knew what was going to happen.

The Panthers’ caravan passed by the Elbo Room and Tkachuk, bringing up the rear, made one last pit stop before hitting the stage to diss the Oilers, drop a few F-bombs and hoist the Stanley Cup one more time. The star right wing, with a wrestling-style championship belt draped over his shoulder, raced down the stairs of his double-decker bus and up the stairs outside his favorite bar in his adopted hometown.

At the top of the stairs, he turned the packed crowd inside the building and then turned to look at the mass of humanity below him on the street, with his fist raised and beer showering all around him — an alcohol-soaked, Cup-winning pope basking in adoration from his loyal followers.

“This has been the greatest day ever,” the 26-year-old forward said about an hour later from the stage set up on the beach only about few hundred yards away. “You fans have made this the time of my [expletive] life.”

At South Florida’s first Cup parade, Tkachuk returned the favor.

From the back of the Panthers’ procession, Tkachuk slammed Bud Lights — although probably about half of each one wound up on his shirt, blending in with the nonstop rain that drenched Broward County into the afternoon — and tossed the empties into the crowd. Keith Tkachuk, the winger’s father and former All-Star, sat right in front of him with a cigar in his mouth and permanent smile fixed to his face. Center Sam Bennett, who quietly helped recruit Tkachuk to Florida two years ago, stood next to him and held a miniature Cup for him, Tkachuk and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to drink out of.

Every few hundred yards, Tkachuk and Bennett got the driver to stop the bus so they could hop out and greet the fans up close. Tkachuk spent most of the day with his arms stretched out in the pouring rain like he was reenacting the climactic scene from “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Tkachuk, a rare American superstar in the NHL and native of Arizona, is built to play for the Panthers. With his pesky personality and knack for clutch goals, he’s built for the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the last week, he has proved that, above all else, he’s built for a title celebration.

“I just want to thank the Violas and Billy [Zito] for getting me here,” Tkachuk said. “Thank you guys for the memories.”

When general manager Zito made the bold move to trade for Tkachuk two years ago, Florida had already finally transformed from a laughingstock into one of the best teams in the league, but the first two seasons with Tkachuk could hardly have gone better. The Panthers went to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final last year — their first since 1996 — and then followed it up with their elusive first championship this year, all the while giving Florida a never-before-seen infusion of star power and charisma.

Tkachuk is almost a stereotype of an old-school hockey player — sometimes seemingly as eager to celebrate and talk trash as he is to score goals—and the Panthers’ fan base quickly fell in love with his act.

At the parade, the celebration was going to be easy to find, but Tkachuk swerved out of his way to talk some trash, too.

“I heard it’s 70 degrees and sunny in Edmonton,” he said, “but they ain’t got no Cup.”

Tkachuk then lifted up the Cup and handed it to star center Aleksander Barkov, “the best captain in the [expletive] NHL.”

The party still wasn’t finished, though. The speeches were done and fans could finally flee to their cars, but the ocean was right there. Tkachuk jumped in.