The Florida Panthers are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Many believe they have the potential to win a third-straight Stanley Cup. However, Florida is not at full strength. Head coach Paul Maurice knew this even prior to the team’s 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Florida lost Aleksander Barkov to an ACL injury during training camp. Matthew Tkachuk is still recovering from injuries he played through during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thomas Nosek is out long-term, and the team announced Wednesday that Dmitry Kulikov will miss five months.
Florida has shown its quality early in the season. In fact, they won their first three games before losing back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Red Wings. This is not a team to count out in the slightest.
At the same time, there is an uneasiness creeping in. Maurice said there was no arrogance in his locker room. And his team understands they aren’t going to coast through the season. He doesn’t believe there’s a sense of fear, but at the same time, he doesn’t have a better word for it.
“I don’t have the right word, but fear helps,” the Panthers bench boss said, via NHL.com “That’s part of it.”
Panthers Find Focus Among Injuries
Megan Briggs/Getty ImagesThe Florida Panthers have lost key members of their roster due to injuries.
Florida’s talent can still take them far. Brad Marchand has had an excellent start to the season. Sam Bennett is a great player, and the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner. And Sergei Bobrovsky is dialed in, even with the recent losses taken into account.
However, talent can only go so far when so much of it is sidelined. Even for a team this loaded, injury issues of this magnitude are hard to overcome. As a result, each player has to dial themselves in, much like Bobrovsky has.
Maurice sees his team as focused as they need to be. He hoped to it would come through their work in the offseason. But focus out of necessity is still focus.
“My summer was, how do I get these guys back focused on the hard?” Maurice said, via NHL.com. “Well, the injuries happened. Now everybody’s focused because we need to [be].”
Paul Maurice Finds Potential Silver Lining
There are very few positives to come out of a situation like this. The Panthers are hurting, and there is some concern that the issues could continue to grow. However, Maurice believes there is at least one silver lining come playoff time.
“The silver lining is, you potentially become bulletproof to injuries in the playoffs if you can figure out how to survive this now,” Maurice said, via NHL.com. “That’s the only thing we get out of this, because we’re going to have to scratch and claw to make the playoffs, because the division is that good.”
Florida’s standard right now is to make the playoffs at the very least. Anything less would be a failure, even with the injury situation. It’s an uphill battle, but it’s something Florida is going to tackle head on.
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