In addition to Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers will be without another player long-term
The Florida Panthers already knew they would be without star winger Matthew Tkachuk for an extended period of time to start the season.
They will be without a second player who was a regular on last season’s Stanley Cup team as well.
Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said at the team’s media day Wednesday morning that forward Tomas Nosek will miss “several months” due to a lower-body injury. Nosek was seen on crutches as recently as last week.
“His timeline is longer-term,” Zito said. “We’ll evaluate along the way to try to get a little better understanding. As we get closer, I think we’d be able to say with more certainty when [his return] would be, but it’s going to be months, for sure.”
Nosek was the Panthers’ primary fourth-line center last season and was instrumental on the team’s penalty kill.
He only played in 59 regular-season games for Florida last season, missing time early due to injury and then being a healthy scratch at points down the stretch after Florida acquired Marchand and Nico Sturm at the trade deadline.
But he was pivotal during Florida’s playoff run, with coach Paul Maurice crediting Nosek’s line with A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich on the wings as being the spark the team needed to win Game 3 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs after the team dropped the first two games of that series.
He re-signed in the offseason for a league minimum $775,000.
His early absence will open the door for players such as Luke Kunin, Tyler Motte and a slew of prospects to crack the Opening Night roster and get early playing time.
As for Tkachuk, the exact timeline for his return is unclear after he underwent surgery last month to repair his torn adductor muscle and sports hernia that he sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off and played through during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Wednesday on The Joe Rose Show that the team should have more clarity on his timeline within the next four weeks after he hits certain checkmarks in his recovery process.
Zito said tentatively he expects Tkachuk to be out until at least “December-ish.”
“It’s almost like kind of I made a joke that if you’re driving across the country, you can measure the distance and say, ‘Oh, it should take this amount of time, but what if it snows?” Zito said. “And I think that there are measuring posts along the way, and then how your reaction is at a certain point would then dictate when the next one is. So it’s not necessarily equally laid out time wise, like where once a month, what are your expectations would be. If you pass the first-month threshold, there’s a new one. and then what setbacks, or what progress could you make?”
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 9:37 AM.
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