Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers will miss a key piece to their puzzle as Aleksander Barkov is out long-term with a knee injury. However, ahead of the 2025-26 NHL season, the team made an announcement that could hint all hope isn’t lost.
The Panthers need to gather strength from any corner ahead of a new NHL season. With Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov out for a big stretch of the campaign, it’s up to Marchand and company to keep the team afloat. Needless to say, no team will show mercy to Florida.
However, as injury-riddled as the Panthers may be, they are still the reigning Stanley Cup champs. Their name demands respect. Moreover, cats always stick the landing, and the felines in Sunrise are no exception. When announcing the official opening night roster, Florida hinted it may have an ace up its sleeves.
The Panthers haven’t placed Barkov on season-ending long-term injured reserve (LTIR) in their opening night roster. Therefore, the captain is still eligible to return at some stage of the 2025-26 NHL campaign.
The patient game
Of course, the Panthers could retrace their steps and place Barkov on LTIR. If that were to happen, the captain would most likely only return in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That is, provided the Cats remain under the NHL’s salary cap.
This season, a new playoff cap system has been introduced to address the controversies surrounding LTIR players returning in the postseason while pushing teams over the cap. That can no longer be done, and teams are still adjusting to the changes.
Filling in
Although Marchand blossomed on the third line last season, playing alongside Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, the recent events call for head coach Paul Maurice to re-shuffle the lineup.
Now, Marchand is being promoted to the first line, where he is set to join Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett. The Panthers are still testing thin ice, so the lines are expected to undergo more changes if needed. For the moment, however, Marchand and Bennett will get a go together. As Maurice stated, Marchand can be very similar to Tkachuk, so Chucky’s replacement was right there for him.
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The story will come full circle for the new duo—from Bennett’s controversial hit on Marchand during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, to an awkward reunion that struck gold with Team Canada, to now being linemates on the reigning back-to-back champs.