As injuries keep piling up, the Panthers will need contributions from everyone
The hits keep coming for the Florida Panthers.
And their depth will once again need to be tested more than it already has been.
The latest player sidelined: Center Cole Schwindt, who left in the first period of Florida’s 8-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday after colliding with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky when both tried to make a play on the puck in the Panthers’ zone.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Schwindt will see a doctor on Wednesday but does not anticipate this being a short-term injury.
That’s just the way things have gone this season so far for the Panthers.
They already have five players sidelined long-term.
Captain Aleksander Barkov is likely out the entire regular season at minimum after undergoing surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee following an injury sustained at the start of training camp.
Star winger Matthew Tkachuk had surgery in August to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and played through during Florida’s postseason run to a second consecutive Stanley Cup. He could progress to the on-ice portion of his rehab as early as next week but likely will still be sidelined through at least mid-December in terms of game action.
Fellow forwards Tomas Nosek (knee) and Jonah Gadjoivch (upper body) plus defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder) are also all sidelined multiple months.
There’s also uncertainty about the status of forward Eetu Luostarinen, who missed Monday’s game and for now is listed as day-to-day.
“We don’t have any short-term injuries here,” Maurice said.
And that is requiring the Panthers to go deep into their roster and find contributors from anywhere and anywhere on the ice.
They got that on Monday, with 16 players logging at least one point in the win.
“It’s a good confidence booster for everyone,” forward A.J. Greer said. “That means that a lot of guys are doing good things out there.”
Some of the production came from the expected cast of characters. Star forward Sam Reinhart had three assists. Defenseman Seth Jones had a pair of power play goals. And Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist to extend his team leads in goals (13) and points (23).
But a lot of the key scoring plays against the Canucks came from either under-the-radar players or players who have been underperforming that need to see an uptick in production.
Like Greer. Known primarily for his physicality as a fourth-line winger, Greer moved up to the third line as part of Maurice’s lineup adjustments with Luostarinen out. He scored Florida’s first goal on Monday, taking a feed from Carter Verhaeghe in the slot and firing a snap shot past Vancouver goaltender Jiri Patera. It cut the Panthers’ deficit to 2-1 with 4:10 left in the first period and cut the Canucks’ momentum after they had scored twice in a 24-second span.
“When you get down two, you’ve got a decision to make,” Greer said. “Being able to just wipe out whatever happened before that and go on and stay with it, keep the structure going, play to our identity and play hard is important. We showed some good resiliency, good pushback.”
Like Luke Kunin and Noah Gregor. The two have been rotating in and out of the lineup as the right wing on Florida’s fourth line, with Schwindt at center and Greer usually on the left wing of that trio. They connected for a goal 2:23 into the second period that gave Florida its first lead of the game, 3-2 at that time. It was Kunin’s first goal and Gregor’s first point of the season.
“That’s just what we have in this room,” Kunin said. “A lot of guys willing to do whatever to help, and that’s what we showed.”
Like Sam Bennett. The center, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup playoffs MVP and is in the first season of an eight-year contract extension, had been expected to take on a bigger role this season with Barkov sidelined. His performance has relatively been lackluster.
On Monday, Bennett had the game-winning goal, deflecting in a point shot from defenseman Niko Mikkola 4:02 into the third period after Vancouver erased Florida’s three-goal lead earlier in the frame. Jones added his second power play goal of the night about four minutes later and Marchand sealed the game with an empty-net goal.
“We responded well and capitalized when we needed to,” Bennett said. “It was a good win for us.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 12:40 PM.
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