The Stanley Cup champion is hurting now, and opened up in a recent interview.

Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk was living the dream this summer. Fresh off winning the first Stanley Cup of his career, and in franchise history, Tkachuk was partying and celebrating for the length of the offseason.

Until his heart broke at the end of August, and as Josh Yohe for the Athletic puts it: “Tkachuk’s dream summer turned into a nightmare.” That was on August 29 when he found out that his close friend and former teammate in Calgary, Johnny Gaudreau, and his younger brother Matthew had been stuck and killed by a drunk driver while riding bikes in Oldmans Township, New Jersey on the eve of their sister’s wedding, where both brothers were to be groomsmen.

“You put so much work into a season, that’s where all of your energy goes,” Tkachuk said. “Then you make the playoffs. You make the Final. And then, when it was over, we got to celebrate this summer. It was the greatest summer of my life, and some of the most incredible memories were made. But then, right at the end of this amazing summer, the unthinkable happened.”

Tkachuk and Johnny Hockey were teammates with the Flames for six years before they left at the same time in the summer of 2022. Gaudreau signed as a free agent with the Columbus Blue Jackets while Tkachuk was moved to Florida in a blockbuster trade.

The best summer ever came to an abrupt end and Tkachuk hasn’t even begun to process Gaudreau’s death in the month since it happened.

“Ever since I left Calgary and came to Florida, all I ever do is tell stories about Johnny,” Tkachuk said. “At one point, I was probably telling the guys down here a Johnny story once a week. I was always talking about him, about something funny he had done, something he had done in practice, whatever. He was the kind of guy that you could never get out of your mind, and I hated being away from him.”

Despite the moves to Columbus and Florida, Gaudreau and Tkachuk talked all the time and spoke about the chance to play together again, thanks to the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off coming up in February. That will now only be a dream for Tkachuk, who had also planned for an Olympic reunion with Gaudreau on Team USA.

“You have to understand that Johnny and I talked about being in the Olympics together a lot,” Tkachuk said. “In 2022, when they canceled us from being in the Olympics, we were so upset. We were both playing really well together in Calgary and we thought we were going to be so good in the Olympics. We talked about it all the time. That was a tough one. He had played for Team USA in so many big events, and I know it meant a lot to him. Obviously, we would have been together this time. It’s tough to think about right now. But I know he would have been excited for those tournaments and he will be on my mind during those times even more than he usually is.”

Tkachuk knows he is not the only one missing Gaudreau, and is not asking for sympathy. Though he knows the Blue Jackets’ home opener on Oct. 15 against his Panthers will be extremely hard on him as the team will honour the memory of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau.

“I have a feeling that it’s going to be pretty tough to play that night. It’s not just me that’s feeling it, obviously. The whole league is feeling it right now. Anyone who knew him is feeling it even more.”

As Tkachuk works hard to give the Panthers a chance to claim back-to-back championships, he remains heartbroken at the loss of his close friend, gone way too soon.

“It’s been a really, really, really tough few weeks,” he said. “I still can’t even believe it. It’s just so sad. All of it.”