It has been a tough season for the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions Florida Panthers. From the get-go, they were behind the eight-ball, losing captain Aleksander Barkov to a season ending injury during training camp. The Panthers knew they would not have Matthew Tkachuk from the start of the season after he had offseason surgery. So their backs were up against the wall from the start.
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Throughout the season, player after player went down to injury. Tomas Nosek missed most of the season because of offseason surgery. Dmitry Kulikov missed four to five months after suffering a shoulder injury in Game 2 of the 2025-26 season. He was just activated on March 1. Seth Jones then suffered a fractured collarbone on January 2nd at the Winter Classic, missing 26 games before returning on Tuesday night in Vancouver.
In total, regular-season man-games lost due to injury for the Florida Panthers are at 395 games and counting. Now, Brad Marchand was put on LTIR to activate Jones. There is a belief his injury in January was season-ending, but he pushed to play in the Olympics and help the Panthers get back to the playoffs.
Once the Florida Panthers were out of the playoff mix, the Panthers shut him down for the season. The expectation is that he needs to go under the knife. Throughout the season, players like Jonah Gadjovich, Cole Schwindt, Sam Reinhart, Uvis Balinskis, and Sam Bennett have also missed time due to injury. Playing deep into June for three straight seasons takes a toll on the body.
As mentioned throughout the season, the best thing for the Florida Panthers was to miss the playoffs and get rest for next season instead of trying to push for a three-peat. While it is historic, it is so hard to do because everything has to go a team’s way for another whole season. Plus, once it was revealed that the first-round pick they sent to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Seth Jones trade was top-10 protected, it opened the door for another asset to be available in the offseason.
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But just because the Florida Panthers are having a bad season doesn’t mean you should count them as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet told Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Wednesday morning.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Gord Stellick: “So, taking a look at few of the things that are going on as we get down to push to the playoffs. It’s kind of interesting. The Florida Panthers, I believe, have a top 10 retention (protected) pick, so they could defer to the Chicago Blackhawks and get that pick.
Do you think this is a one and back at it for the Florida Panthers? Because I think a lot of teams may believe that, think this is their one chance to go with the Cup, or do you think there has been slippage, that they’ll come back to the pack in the big picture?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well, I generally would say I believe in them. Look, they’ve been in the finals three Cups in a row. That comes with some wear and tear. I think I would never question the ability of those guys and the will of those guys. I just think it all piled up on them. I mean, the one thing that I really do wonder about is, look, he’s a Hall of Famer, (Sergei) Bobrovsky.
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He’s just had a rough year. And again, I think that could easily be attributable to wear and tear, and the guy just might need a long summer. I would never doubt that guy, but he’s really struggled, and that’s your backbone.
I think you count out the Panthers at your peril, particularly since it’s a team that people want to go to and play for, right? So, I think it’s smart if you’re going to have a bad year, you might as well go to the bottom 10 and get your pick and take your chances on next season.
Now, I saw someone sent me a note. Apparently, they moved (Brad) Marchand to LTIR, so I’ve got to think there’s a chance we don’t see him again this season.”
A big reason why the Panthers went the Stanley Cup Final three straight years was the play of Sergei Bobrovsky. He wasn’t getting traded despite what some north of the border thought. Bobrovsky wants to stay in Florida and finish his career there.
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Given how the majority of the team is locked up to the 2030 season, the Panthers will want to get him locked in to a two or three-year deal in the $6 million to $7.5 million range. Don’t count out GM Bill Zito trading for a goalie to back up Bobrovsky and be the future once Bobrovsky is done.
Barkov covers up a lot of defensive defencies and when he is back healthy, the Florida Panthers are a hard team to beat. As we have seen with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the best thing was for them to have some longer offseasons and come back stronger. The Lightning are primed to make another deep run for the Stanley Cup.
Same thing can be said for the Florida Panthers. Rest and recovery will do this team some good. So when next season comes around don’t be surprised they are once again a favorite to win the Stanley Cup.
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