Florida Panthers leave one star behind as they depart for upcoming road trip
|
Bruce Raymond
Feb 26, 2026 (1:05 PM)
|
|
Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Paul Maurice sends the Florida Panthers on a road trip with reinforcements, but Aleksander Barkov stays home and it stings.
The big update came straight from Maurice through Jameson Olive, every injured Panther except Barkov will travel and could potentially play.
That «could» is doing a lot of work, but it matters, because it gives Maurice options instead of patchwork lines.
The names aren't small ones either, Dmitry Kulikov, Tomas Nosek, and Jonah Gadjovich have all been part of the injury conversation lately.
Maurice also sounded confident about Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand, and Evan Rodrigues being ready as the team ramps back up.
That's the difference between surviving a week and actually chasing points in the standings.
The timing is brutal, because the Panthers come out of the break with Toronto on Thursday, then Buffalo on Friday, and the travel starts to pile up fast.
After that, the schedule swings to the road with games at the Islanders on Sunday and at the Devils on Tuesday, before more stops in Columbus and Detroit.
Florida sits 29-25-3, and the margin for error is basically gone if they want to claw back into the mix.
Aleksander Barkov absence tests Florida Panthers depth
Panthers fans are tired of guessing who is actually healthy, and this update finally feels like oxygen after weeks of bandages.
Still, Barkov is the one name that changes everything, and he has yet to play this season after knee surgery in the fall.
Without him, the middle of the ice becomes a grind, and every matchup turns into a shift-by-shift fight for clean exits.
Kulikov's return would steady the penalty kill, while Nosek's faceoff work is the kind of boring detail that wins road games.
If Seth Jones truly gets close enough to travel and push for a return, the entire blue line rotation gets easier to manage.
Maurice can also breathe a bit between the pipes, with Daniil Tarasov having avoided anything serious after leaving early last time out.
This trip is a measuring stick, not just for points, but for whether the Panthers can look like a real team again without their captain, at least for now.
Also read on Sunrise Hockey Insider :
Florida Panthers have a new number-one trade chip one week from the deadline
Florida Panthers have a new number-one trade chip one week from the deadline
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 26|52 ANSWERS Florida Panthers leave one star behind as they depart for upcoming road trip Do you still believe the Florida Panthers can stay alive without Aleksander Barkov on this road trip? | ||
| Yes | 27 | 51.9 % |
| No | 25 | 48.1 % |
| List of polls | ||