The Panthers might have star winger Matthew Tkachuk out for greater than the following few video games, however his absence received’t persist for the remainder of the season.
Head coach Paul Maurice confirmed as such on the “Joe Rose Present” on Monday, saying “he’s enjoying for us this 12 months” even with the “chance [his recovery] a bit long term” (by way of George Richards of Florida Hockey Now).
Tkachuk missed the Panthers’ 2-1 loss to the Kraken on Saturday with the lower-body damage, which a number of experiences point out is a groin problem, he sustained whereas enjoying for the Individuals on the 4 Nations Face-Off. Maurice mentioned he’s present process closing evaluations to find out a restoration timeline at present.
Florida is comfortably in a playoff spot, however its closing standing within the Atlantic Division stays to be seen and may very well be considerably impacted by Tkachuk’s absence. The Panthers been handed by the Maple Leafs as soon as once more for the highest spot, now one level again with another recreation performed, and so they’re dealing with stress from the surging Lightning in third place.
There’s now a 20% probability of the Cats slipping to 3rd and one other 6.1% of them falling to a wild-card spot, per MoneyPuck. The Panthers have gone 6-4-1 in 11 video games with out Tkachuk since buying him in a blockbuster commerce with the Flames in 2022.
Tkachuk isn’t on tempo to succeed in the 40-goal, 109-point heights of his first season in Florida, however he stays at a 1.10 points-per-game tempo and ranks second on the workforce with a 22-35–57 scoring line. He’s been restricted to 52 of 58 video games, lacking 5 contests again in October with an sickness, however stays the workforce’s chief in power-play objectives with 11 and even-strength assists with 23.
Within the meantime, rookie Mackie Samoskevich would be the largest benefactor of Tkachuk’s minutes. He stepped into the latter’s common second-line function alongside Sam Bennett within the Seattle recreation. Whereas he didn’t report some extent, he logged a season-high 17:23 of ice time and recorded two pictures on objective and three hits. The 2021 first-round decide hasn’t performed a lot over the previous month because of damage and sickness, however he’s been a stable depth piece in his first total NHL marketing campaign with 8-9–17 by means of 49 appearances.
An anticipated return earlier than the postseason or early into the primary spherical probably received’t influence the Panthers’ commerce deadline technique an excessive amount of. Their prime precedence will proceed to be including a reputation to a blue line that’s punched above its weight this 12 months after dropping key names on final summer season’s free-agent market, contributing to a rise of 0.47 objectives towards per recreation in comparison with 2023-24’s league-best defensive effort.
