How Brady and Matthew Tkachuk Are Growing Hockey

Hockey has spent years trying to figure out how to reach people who don’t already care about the sport. Usually, that conversation turns to marketing ideas, rule changes, or finding the next viral highlight. Wingmen takes a different approach.

Produced by the same company behind New Heights, the podcast hosted by NFL brothers Jason and Travis Kelce, Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk’s show follows a familiar athlete-led model. What makes it stand out, though, is the sport it lives in. Hockey has never been great at putting personalities front and center, and the Tkachuks aren’t interested in changing who they are to fit that mold.

Personality as the Entry Point

Wingmen doesn’t feel like a hockey podcast as much as it feels like two brothers talking. That’s intentional. The conversations are loose, honest, and sometimes scattered. The kind of stuff fans rarely hear in press conferences or traditional interviews.

You don’t need to know much about hockey to enjoy it. The appeal isn’t systems or strategy. It’s the sibling dynamic, the competitiveness, and the stories that have nothing to do with a box score. For longtime fans, it offers access. For everyone else, it offers an entry point.

Born Out of Frustration and Timing

There’s context behind why Wingmen started when it did. Both Matthew (Florida Panthers) and Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators) opened the season on injured reserve for their respective teams, sidelined at a time when neither is used to watching from the outside. The podcast became a way to stay connected, to the game, to each other, and to competition while they couldn’t play.

Since then, Brady has returned and made an immediate impact, recording nine points in 10 games (one goal, eight assists). Matthew has begun skating again, and both brothers have said they expect to be ready for the Winter Olympics in February in Milan.