{"id":472432,"date":"2026-02-26T05:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/472432\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T05:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T05:28:27","slug":"panthers-hint-return-of-two-stanley-cup-champions-to-help-brad-marchand-matthew-tkachuk-and-teammates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/472432\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers hint return of two Stanley Cup champions to help Brad Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk, and teammates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Winter Olympics ended in contrasting fashion for Matthew Tkachuk<\/a> and Brad Marchand. Regardless of their outcome, both must now return to the Florida Panthers<\/a>, who are facing a very steep climb in the 2025-26 NHL season. The Cats must catch fire if they want to clinch a playoff spot. On that note, getting two Stanley Cup champions back in the lineup could go a long way for the Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul Maurice just told Joe Rose that Dmitry Kulikov and Tomas Nosek are coming out of the non-contact jersey for today\u2019s practice,\u201d as reported by George Richards of NHL.com.<\/p>\n

It may take a while before Kulikov can return to the ice and Nosek can make his debut in the 2025\u201326 NHL<\/a> campaign, but the fact that both are back practicing at full capacity is definitely a good sign. <\/p>\n

Kulikov and Nosek may need more time<\/p>\n

However, despite the intensity brought into the training facility by Tkachuk, Marchand<\/a>, and company, it doesn\u2019t quite equal the pace and aggressiveness of an NHL game. <\/p>\n

\"Dmitry<\/p>\n

Dmitry Kulikov of the Florida Panthers<\/p>\n

Even if Kulikov and Nosek don\u2019t wear non-contact jerseys, the rest of the team knows both are coming off long-term injuries and won\u2019t go at full speed against them. In an NHL game, opponents won\u2019t care about that. Thus, Paul Maurice<\/a> and his staff must be completely sure Kulikov and Nosek can withstand that rhythm before sending them onto the ice.<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Brad Marchand\u2019s net worth: \u200bHow much fortune does the Florida Panthers left winger have?<\/p>\n

<\/a>When was Kulikov and Nosek\u2019s last NHL game?<\/p>\n

Tomas Nosek has yet to play a game in the 2025-26 campaign. The Czech forward underwent surgery on his knee during the summer. His last appearance for the Panthers was on Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup<\/a> Final. Needless to say, Nosek went out with a bang, but the wait has been too long, and he hopes to be back in action soon.<\/p>\n

As for Kulikov, the veteran defenseman sustained a labrum tear in the second game of the 2025-26 regular season. The Russian blueliner underwent surgery on his shoulder and was placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Four months later, he may finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Winter Olympics ended in contrasting fashion for Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand. Regardless of their outcome,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[254,62,57,5141,5,94,4,63,804,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-472432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-brad-marchand","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-panthers","11":"tag-floridapanthers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-matthew-tkachuk","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-panthers","16":"tag-paul-maurice","17":"tag-stanley-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116135284896719053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}