{"id":479853,"date":"2026-03-02T00:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/479853\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T00:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:00:17","slug":"brad-marchand-panthers-welcome-back-stanley-cup-champion-as-key-teammate-is-activated-and-another-is-placed-on-ir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/479853\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Marchand, Panthers welcome back Stanley Cup champion as key teammate is activated and another is placed on IR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Marchand<\/a> and the Florida Panthers know they are playing to stay alive in the 2025\u201326 NHL season. With the trade deadline around the corner, the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup champions<\/a> also understand they are just a couple of losses away from becoming sellers on the league\u2019s market.<\/p>\n

Thus, the upcoming games will be crucial. If the Panthers<\/a> cannot turn the tide before the trade deadline on March 6, they may be forced to wave the white flag on the season. After three straight runs to the Stanley Cup Final, it appears the wear and tear has finally caught up with Florida. <\/p>\n

Still, even during one of the darkest stretches Marchand and the Panthers have endured in some time, there is a silver lining. However, as has often been the case for Florida this season, the good news did not come alone. Stanley Cup champion Dmitry Kulikov is back in the lineup, but another player is headed to injured reserve (IR).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Panthers have activated Dmitry Kulikov off IR, and placed Cole Schwindt on IR,\u201d as reported by Alex Baumgartner from Five Reasons Sports.<\/p>\n

\"Dmitry<\/p>\n

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

Kulikov is back after long injury<\/p>\n

As the Panthers visit the New York Islanders, Kulikov made his return to NHL<\/a> action. The Russian blueliner is back in the lineup for the first time since October. 9, 2025. Kulikov underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum earlier on the season and had been placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) since.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Matthew Tkachuk returns to Panthers with bold message for Canada\u2019s Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Sam Reinhart<\/p>\n

<\/a>Scwhindt will miss time<\/p>\n

Schwindt has blossomed into a key piece on Florida\u2019s fourth line. As the Panthers have struggled throughout the season, their bottom line has been a significant contributor for the Cats. <\/p>\n

Playing alongside A.J. Greer and either Luke Kunin or Sandis Vilmanis, the 24-year-old Schwindt has recorded four points (three goals, one assist) in 22 games. Though far from a household name in the NHL, Schwindt\u2019s absence could prove more costly than fans might expect. Numbers don\u2019t lie, but they don\u2019t always tell the whole story. When it comes to Schwindt\u2019s impact, stats don\u2019t do it justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers know they are playing to stay alive in the 2025\u201326 NHL season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[254,62,57,5141,5,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-479853","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-nhl","14":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116156645357123712","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479853","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=479853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}