Edmonton Oilers fans may want to photoshop their own version of NHL 26.

That’s because on Monday morning, the NHL announced EA Sports’ cover athlete for the latest instalment of their NHL franchise: Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk.

“He’s a tone-setter, a leader, and now a cover star,” the NHL’s announcement read.

It’s been quite the run for Tkachuk since he arrived in Florida a little over three years ago, helping lead the Panthers to three Stanley Cup Final appearances in a row, winning each of the last two. Those came with the Oilers losing back-to-back finals.

This was a tumultuous year for Tkachuk personally, however. He appeared in just 52 regular season games scoring 22 goals and 57 points, and while he represented the United States at the 4-Nations Face-Off, he suffered a serious injury that held him out for the second half of the season. Tkachuk tore his adductor off the bone and suffered a sports hernia.

He, as everyone remembers, was involved in one of three early fights at the 4-Nations Face-Off, when he fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff for the Gold Medal game.

The winger was able to play in all 23 playoff games for the Panthers, scoring eight goals and 23 points in 23 games.

Tkachuk becomes the third Florida Panther to be made an NHL cover athlete, following goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, who donned the North America cover for NHL 97, and Olli Jokinen, who was on the European cover of NHL 2005, replacing Vancouver Canucks forward Markus Naslund.

Being on the cover hasn’t always worked out well for the players teams. As noted by JFreshHockey on X, an NHL cover athletes team has only made it past the second round of the playoffs once in the season he appeared on the cover (Patrick Kane, NHL 2010), and past the first round three times (Kane, NHL 2010, Vladimir Tarasenko, NHL 17 and Cale Makar NHL 24).

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.