Matthew Tkachuk ditches Wayne Gretzky to pick retired Capitals superstar for life-saving shootout goal

On Thursday, Matthew Tkachuk, who helped the Florida Panthers win their second Stanley Cup, shared a surprising opinion. Before the 2025 American Century Celebrity Golf Championship Tournament began, Tkachuk was asked to pick one player to score a shootout goal to save his life.

Interestingly, he chose retired Capitals winger T.J. Oshie over hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

“One of my favorite moments in sports history was watching Oshie in the four-shootout-goal game, so I’m going to take Oshie,” Tkachuk said. (8:42).

Tkachuk was talking about the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where Oshie scored four times in a shootout against Russia, helping Team USA win in the group stage. At the time, Oshie was 27 years old and showed great skill and calmness under pressure.

Oshie’s shootout success continued in the NHL. He scored 49 shootout goals over 16 seasons, which is tied for the third-most in league history with Frans Nielsen. The list is led by Blackhawks star Patrick Kane, with 53 such goals, followed by Jonathan Toews in second.

Oshie has played 1,010 NHL games with the St. Louis Blues and the Washington Capitals. His best NHL season was in 2016–17, when he scored 33 goals and 56 points. He also helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Oshie announced his retirement in June. He left the game with 302 goals, 393 assists and 695 points. At his retirement event, held at Capital One Arena, Oshie said (via ESPN):

“My only contribution was that this could be a good day and place to have (the ceremony). I can't thank the Caps enough. Another first-class move by them to have my retirement here, invite all the people out. It really made this day special.”

Matthew Tkachuk talked about Panthers' strategy for the upcoming season

Last week, during an interview on NHL Network, Matthew Tkachuk shared the Florida Panthers’ plan for the 2025–26 NHL season.

Tkachuk explained that some teams think only about winning the Stanley Cup from the start. He believes that creates stress and leads to mistakes. The Panthers prefer to take it step by step. First, they aim to make it to the playoffs, and then they focus on competing for the Cup.

"Because whenever you make playoffs, you have a chance to win," Tkachuk said. "So we don't look at that whole end goal at the start of it."

Tkachuk believes this mindset will guide the Panthers to their potential third Stanley Cup win.