Miami Heat Honor Gold Medals with a Banner. Florida Panthers Should, Too

FORT LAUDERDALE — In case you had not heard, Matthew Tkachuk became the first Florida Panthers player to ever win a gold medal at the Olympics, helping Team USA to a 2-1 win over Canada in the championship game Sunday in Milan.

The Panthers plan to honor their seven medal-winning Olympians before tonight’s game with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the team should be talking about something a little more permanent for Tkachuk.

Barring anything unforeseen, Tkachuk will be one of many current members of these Panthers to likely have a banner and a retired number by the Panthers in the next decade.

Winning Olympic gold only adds to Tkachuk’s jacked Panthers resume: Now in his fourth season with Florida, Tkachuk has been MVP of the Sunrise All-Star Game, has been to the Stanley Cup Final three straight years, and he has been on two championship teams.

Pretty snappy.

Olympic gold does not come around very often — and it certainly has not come around Sunrise.

Three players with ties to the Panthers have won gold at the Olympics since NHL players started participating in 1998: Roberto Luongo (twice), Jay Bouwmeester, and Joe Thornton.

None of them were active Florida players at the time. Luongo returned to the Panthers in 2014 with his gold medals; Thornton won his years before joining the Panthers in 2021. Bouwmeester left town long before his 2014 championship with Team Canada.

The Miami Heat have honored its Olympic gold winners with a banner at their downtown arena for years including two for Bam Adebayo (2020, 2024), LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, and Tim Hardaway.

The Panthers should consider doing the same for Tkachuk.

And, maybe they are.

The team has certainly been stockpiling banners over the past couple of years and have plenty room to add more.

A Tkachuk Olympic gold banner could be hung alongside Florida’s three retired numbers (Luongo’s No. 1; No. 37 for Wayne Huizenga, and No. 93 for Bill Torrey) across the ice from the team’s championship banners at Amerant Bank Arena.

The team could also utilize the end zone space across from the U.S. and Canadian flags which has smaller banners commemorating key NHL events held in the building such as the 2003 NHL All-Star Game.

For some reason, a 2023 All-Star Game banner has not been procured.

Perhaps a Tkachuk banner could take its spot.

The Panthers could also just have one banner saluting the Team USA championship and include Tkachuk, GM Bill Zito, and equipment manager Teddy Richards.

Something to think about.

Had Canada won gold with the help of three Florida Panthers players (Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand), the same sentiment applies. A banner should have gone up with their names as well.

Anyway, the Panthers have a lot to celebrate tonight aside from the Tkachuk’s win with Team USA.

The team is expected to honor all seven of its medal winners with three Canadian players (Reinhart, Bennett, Marchand) winning silver, and three Finland players bringing home bronze (Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola). Assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu was behind the Finnish bench.

Florida had a league-high 10 players in Milan with Gus Forsling (Sweden), Uvis Balinskis (Latvia), and Sandis Vilmanis (Latvia).

Toronto’s Auston Matthews was captain of Team USA and will be in the building tonight as well.

ON DECK: GAME No. 58

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS at FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WPTV 5/WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Season Series (Leafs Lead 2-0) — At Florida: Leafs 4, Panthers 1 (Dec. 2); Feb . 26. At Toronto: Leafs 4, Panthers 1 (Jan. 6); April 11
• Last Regular Season: Panthers Won 3-1
• All-time Regular Season Series: Toronto leads 53-40-7, 7 ties
• Last Postseason: Florida d. Toronto 4-3
• All-time Postseason (Panthers Lead 2-0): Panthers d. Toronto 4-1 (2023 ECS); Panthers d. Toronto 4-3 (2025 ECS)
• Up Next: Friday vs. Buffalo Sabres, 7