When Aleksander Barkov went down during a drill back on Sept. 25, there was no way of knowing how much it would foreshadow the kind of season it would be for the Florida Panthers as a whole.
Of course, everyone knew losing Barkov long-term to a torn ACL/MCL (which required surgery) would be tough to overcome, but the prevailing feeling was that if any team could do it, it was the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
And try they did. There was even a brief moment on Dec. 19 in which they were just one point out of first place in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division. But that moment turned out to be fleeting, as the injuries kept piling up and the Panthers, seemingly running on fumes, dug a hole too deep.
It might be easier at this point to name the regulars who are still playing than the long list of names on injured reserve. It’s an absolute MASH unit.
“It’s strange when you start with Sasha (Barkov), and you say to yourself, ‘What do you think the odds are he wipes himself out and blows out his knee?’ I mean, I guess it can happen,” Panthers general manager and president of hockey operations Bill Zito told The Athletic on Monday. “And then, the other interesting part is that frequently when teams get fatigued, you get these soft-tissue injuries, strains and pulls and what have you, and for the most part, I mean, (Eetu) Luostarinen had a (BBQ) grill explode, I mean, you don’t train for that.
“And then, Seth Jones had a broken collarbone from a shot. We had lots of broken fingers. So, it’s been just strange, I guess.”
His point is that it’s not as easy as saying that there’s a clear and direct line between all the hockey they played the past three seasons and the injuries in this one. So he’s hesitant to say they just need a full offseason to rest.
“It doesn’t matter whether we need it or not, this is where we are,” Zito said. “So we have to plan to get better, all of us.”
That also speaks to the higher standard the Panthers hold internally.
The outside world is quick to chalk this up to three trips to the Cup Final taking their toll and the Panthers needing a full summer to recover, but internally, Florida isn’t taking that free pass.
“I haven’t got myself to the point where I see it that way yet,” Zito said. “It’s more like, I don’t like the playoffs coming up and not being in it. It’s unsettling. It’s not a pleasant feeling.
“And then there’s the hockey fan part of you. Our playoffs are like nothing else. It’s pure hockey fun, the Stanley Cup playoffs. It makes you appreciate how hard it is and what a privilege it is. I can tell you that, for sure.”
I can tell you this: In conversations I’ve had with rival team executives over the past month, they expect the Panthers to be right back to their Cup form next season. The core of this team will be back and healthy, and there’s no obvious reason they shouldn’t be a contender.
“We should be healthy, and we’ll have a veteran team, and I think we’ll have a hungry veteran team,” Zito said.
In a super-charged Atlantic Division that has seen the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres ascend to loftier territory, the Tampa Bay Lightning still being the excellent team they are, the Boston Bruins a surprise this season, and the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings fighting for a playoff spot, the prospect of the Panthers returning to form will make it even spicier in that group.
Until then, Zito and his front office plan to roll up their sleeves and get after it this offseason. The July 1 market for unrestricted free agents isn’t terribly attractive, so any bigger changes will have to come via trade.
“It’s too early to tell,’’ Zito said of potential offseason roster moves. “But it’s also about availability, right? You can say, ‘I need three Maseratis,’ but there are none out there, there’s none for sale, there’s no one that will trade you theirs, so you’d better have a Plan B.
“I think we’re not alone. But I do think it’s an interesting dynamic now — a few years on this job — where you break down your roster, and you say, ‘We need this. We need that.’ Yeah, OK, where are you going to get it? So it’s a never-ending puzzle. We’ll just continue to grind and try to make good decisions.’’
Few teams have been more aggressive in making moves over the past three years, that’s for sure. The Panthers won’t sit still.
In the meantime, if the Panthers end up with a top-10 draft pick, that would be the silver lining on a season that went off the rails. It would mean the 2026 first-round pick owed to Chicago from the Jones trade shifts over to an unprotected 2027 first-round pick and that the 2027 first-round pick owed to the Bruins from the Brad Marchand trade shifts over to a 2028 unprotected first-round pick.
“It would give us the benefit of reaping the benefit of this unfortunate year where you get that higher pick and we would still be able to keep it,” Zito said of potentially ending up with a top-10 pick in this June’s draft.
There’s one important in-house matter to deal with between the end of the season and July 1: finding a way to re-sign Sergei Bobrovsky, the pending UFA netminder who turns 38 in September. He’s had a brutal year. But Florida still believes in him.
There have been contract talks, but so far, that file remains unresolved.
“That’s just something we’ll sort out after the season,” Zito said. “I’d like to keep him. I hope we can. We’ll see what happens.”
Either way, the majority of this two-time Cup-winning roster is set to return healthy. Everyone in the organization, from top to bottom, is eager to turn the page and get to September to get things going again.
And if there’s one element of this lost season that Zito can still appreciate, it’s how head coach Paul Maurice and his staff have handled all the adversity.
“I have so much respect for our coaching staff,” Zito said. “How hard they worked this season and how difficult it’s been for them, there hasn’t been one night all season we’ve had our full lineup. They’ve really been the glue to keeping the culture together.”
There’s an eagerness in Zito’s voice. The 2026-27 season can’t come fast enough. The Panthers will be ready for it.