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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s an absolute MASH unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s strange when you start with Sasha (Barkov), and you say to yourself, \u2018What do you think the odds are he wipes himself out and blows out his knee?\u2019 I mean, I guess it can happen,\u201d Panthers general manager and president of hockey operations Bill Zito told The Athletic on Monday. \u201cAnd 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\u2019t train for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, Seth Jones had a broken collarbone from a shot. We had lots of broken fingers. So, it\u2019s been just strange, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
His point is that it\u2019s not as easy as saying that there\u2019s a clear and direct line between all the hockey they played the past three seasons and the injuries in this one. So he\u2019s hesitant to say they just need a full offseason to rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether we need it or not, this is where we are,\u201d Zito said. \u201cSo we have to plan to get better, all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That also speaks to the higher standard the Panthers hold internally.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t taking that free pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t got myself to the point where I see it that way yet,\u201d Zito said. \u201cIt\u2019s more like, I don\u2019t like the playoffs coming up and not being in it. It\u2019s unsettling. It\u2019s not a pleasant feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the hockey fan part of you. Our playoffs are like nothing else. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
I can tell you this: In conversations I\u2019ve 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\u2019s no obvious reason they shouldn\u2019t be a contender.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be healthy, and we\u2019ll have a veteran team, and I think we\u2019ll have a hungry veteran team,\u201d Zito said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t terribly attractive, so any bigger changes will have to come via trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too early to tell,\u2019\u2019 Zito said of potential offseason roster moves. \u201cBut it\u2019s also about availability, right? You can say, \u2018I need three Maseratis,\u2019 but there are none out there, there\u2019s none for sale, there\u2019s no one that will trade you theirs, so you\u2019d better have a Plan B.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re not alone. But I do think it\u2019s an interesting dynamic now \u2014 a few years on this job \u2014 where you break down your roster, and you say, \u2018We need this. We need that.\u2019 Yeah, OK, where are you going to get it? So it\u2019s a never-ending puzzle. We\u2019ll just continue to grind and try to make good decisions.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Few teams have been more aggressive in making moves over the past three years, that\u2019s for sure. The Panthers won\u2019t sit still.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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,\u201d Zito said of potentially ending up with a top-10 pick in this June\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s 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\u2019s had a brutal year. But Florida still believes in him.<\/p>\n
There have been contract talks, but so far, that file remains unresolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just something we\u2019ll sort out after the season,\u201d Zito said. \u201cI\u2019d like to keep him. I hope we can. We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And if there\u2019s one element of this lost season that Zito can still appreciate, it\u2019s how head coach Paul Maurice and his staff have handled all the adversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have so much respect for our coaching staff,\u201d Zito said. \u201cHow hard they worked this season and how difficult it\u2019s been for them, there hasn\u2019t been one night all season we\u2019ve had our full lineup. They\u2019ve really been the glue to keeping the culture together.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an eagerness in Zito\u2019s voice. The 2026-27 season can\u2019t come fast enough. The Panthers will be ready for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Aleksander Barkov went down during a drill back on Sept. 25, there was no way of knowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-545317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116362996693860066","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545317","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=545317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}