When the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs came to a conclusion, the Florida Panthers were dancing around the ice with their second consecutive championship intact. General manager Bill Zito had put together a team with all the pieces in place and head coach Paul Maurice had directed his players flawlessly.
In the days and weeks after the championship, Zito worked his magic to keep the team intact in order to make a run at a third consecutive title a legitimate possibility. However, bringing back star defenseman Aaron Ekblad as well as Stanley Cup hero and former Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand could not help the team overcome serious injuries as training camp got underway.
The Panthers knew that Matthew Tkachuk would not be available until December or January as a result of his groin injury and subsequent surgery. However, more injuries would follow.
Center Aleksander Barkov suffered an ACL and MCL injury in late September that will likely cause him to miss the season. That was a brutal blow because of his status as the team's first-line center. Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov suffered an upper body injury requiring surgery, and he will be out 4-5 months. Veteran forwardTomas Nosek is also on injured reserve due to a knee injury.
These are not the run of the mill injuries that teams often suffer in the early part of the year. Instead, the Panthers have been devastated and Zito needs to bring in an experienced center to help the team stay afloat. At this point, the Panthers can't be thinking about Stanley Cup No. 3. Instead, they just have to stay in the playoff race
Trading for Calgary's Nazem Kadri would be a key first step
The Calgary Flames have gotten off to a brutal start in the Western Conference and even though they have played just 12 games, it appears that the team has little chance of making the playoffs.
The Flames will probably be in a position to trade off several of its top assets sooner rather than later, and center Nazem Kadri could be a good fit for the Panthers.
Barkov is the team's top center when he is in the lineup and one of the best all-around pivots in the NHL. The retirement of Patrice Bergeron of the Bruins after the 2022-23 season meant that Barkov became the favorite to win the Selke Trophy on an annual basis. Since Barkov is injured, head coach Paul Maurice has used hustling and hard working Evan Rodrigues as the team's front-line center. He does not appear to be the best fit for that role.
The 35-year-old Kadri is not a long-term solution, but he could get the job this season. He is coming off season in which he scored a career-best 35 goals and added 32 assists. Even if he does not reach that level this year, there is every reason to believe that Kadri could score 25 goals and 60 points while playing strong defense.
Maurice could use Kadri between Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe and the Panthers would have a very dangerous first line. Rodrigues would seem to fit better on the team's third or fourth line. He is not a first-line center in terms of his production. He has never scored more than 19 goals in a season and taking him off the top line would relieve some of the pressure on his shoulders.
Injured Panthers could sink in Atlantic Division
The Panthers have played 11 games and they have not resembled a dominant team capable of winning the Stanley Cup. They take a 5-5-1 as the first month of the season comes to it conclusion and the team settles in for the majority of the 2025-26 season.
The Panthers are one of three teams with 11 points and tied for sixth in the tightly bunched Atlantic Division. There is still more than enough time to climb in the standings, but another below average month could leave Maurice's charges in a poor position.
Zito needs to bring in at least one key player to help the team overcome it injuries, and Kadri appears to be the right answer. He is a feisty player who can get under the skin of his opponents, and that fits in with the Panthers' personality and makeup. They may not want to keep him in future seasons because of his age and contract — $7 million per year through the 2028-29 season — but he would be a solid fit this year.
