Matthew Tkachuk discusses possibility of more 4 Nations-like tournaments in future with Jason and Travis Kelce

Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk opened up about the recent 4 Nations Face-Off, his NHL journey and more during a podcast featuring his brother Brady and NFL stars Travis and Jason Kelce.

The Tkachuk brothers appeared on episode 125 of “New Heights,” a podcast hosted by the Kelce brothers on Wednesday.

During the show, Matthew discussed the possibility of the NHL holding similar tournaments in the future.

“Obviously, this was I think more successful than they could have pictured and then next year we got the Olympics and then I think they're doing a World Cup,” Matthew said. (21:33 onwards) “They've been talking about getting more countries involved. I think they're looking for like eight countries.”

“So I think they're coming up with every two years of an event like this.”

Brady Tkachuk and Travis Kelce also highlighted the lack of best-on-best hockey in the last decade.

So I'm not sure when exactly did they start doing the 4 Nations tournament…instead of the All-Star game? They went with the 4 Nations tournament, right?” Travis asked. (16:58)

Brady said that this was the first-ever tournament.

“For some reason, it's nine years since there's a best-on-best tournament and I think they wanted to bring a little energy for the Olympics next year, since the NHL guys are back going to the Olympics and I think the NHL and NHLPA did an unbelievable job,” Brady said. (17:15 onwards)

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Matthew Tkachuk discusses fights against Canada with Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce

Both pairs of brothers talked about the electric atmosphere and rivalries during the tournament. Travis and Jason asked Matthew and Brady about dropping the gloves in the round-robin game against Canada on Feb. 15.

“We knew it was going to be an intense game. Me, Brady and Millsy (J.T. Miller) were talking before about potentially if there were going to be some scraps, doing it right away,” Matthew said. (23:52 onwards)

He also talked about his experiences during the best-on-best tournament.

“So much for people thinking it was going to be an All-Star game. I mean I played in the Stanley Cup finals last year and it was the exact same. So it was very fun. Highlight for me was getting a chance to play with Brady though. It was such an incredible time and something that we're going to look back on forever,” Matthew said. (16:12 onwards)

Team USA lost to Canada 3-2 in overtime in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off.