PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- The United States is “planning and expecting” to have Matthew Tkachuk for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 this February, U.S. general manager Bill Guerin said Wednesday.

After the Florida Panthers won their second straight Stanley Cup on June 18, the 27-year-old revealed he sustained a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia injury on the same side. He added that the adductor muscle was torn from the bone.

The Panthers have yet to announce if he has had surgery or his status for the regular season, which starts Oct. 7.

The Olympics will be the first including NHL players since the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

“Planning and expecting (to have him),” Guerin said at the United States Men’s Olympic Orientation Camp. “I mean, that's just what I have to do. And if

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