Panthers seem set for another season with injury struggles
The 2025-26 season was a nightmarish cavalcade of injuries for the Florida Panthers, who went from capturing the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025 to missing the postseason entirely last year. Aleksander Barkov,...
The 2025-26 season was a nightmarish cavalcade of injuries for the Florida Panthers , who went from capturing the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025 to missing the postseason entirely last year. Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart Anton Lundell, Brad Marchand, Seth Jones, Matthew Tkachuk all missed at least 18 games, with Barkov missing the entire season and Tkachuk only appearing in 31 contests.
It was widely assumed the Panthers would bounce back in terms of both health and effectiveness this season, and while the latter is looking good thanks to a 2-0-2 start, Florida has already lost both Barkov and Marchand to new lower-body injuries. Barkov will not miss the rest of the season like he did last year, but news is still to come on Marchand’s timeline after he exited Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings .
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live , host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed where the Panthers go from here as they try to re-establish themselves as the top favorite for the Stanley Cup with Barkov and Marchand sidelined. Tyler Yaremchuk : This is just another sign, this Marchand injury, the Barkov injury, health is never guaranteed, and for a team that’s up there when it comes to average age, I don’t want to say that injuries are expected, either.
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I know it can just be sort of a random thing, but they’re an old, veteran team who play a very hard-nosed style of hockey. I think that can wear down on you, and they have a lot of guys who don’t play full seasons all that often. The Marchand injury sucks, and it’s got to be a little concerning for the Cats.
Carter Hutton : Yeah, very concerning, especially the second game after an offseason surgery, and then the announcement before that Barkov’s is going to be six to eight weeks. He came into the lineup the game before and added so much energy to it. There is a factor there when I think about Brad Marchand, and again back to our Monday roundtable discussion with Cameron Gaunce... is Florida a lock to make the playoffs?
It’s too early to say the word lock in general, because there’s another injury. Where does that come from? Where does the depth pick up that slack?
I think it’s great that they found a way to win the game. That’s obviously an important factor is banking wins. There’s going to be times where you’re going to have to lean on other guys...
There’s going to be depth in your lineup; they need to find ways to create it without that veteran leadership in their lineup. You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below...
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