The Florida Panthers have been eagerly awaiting the return of their two best defensemen — and the wait for one of them could finally be coming to an end, head coach Paul Maurice confirmed on Friday.

The bench boss said there's a chance Brandon Montour will return before the end of the team's California road trip, per team reporter Jameson Olive.

The Panthers will swing through the West Coast for games against the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings next week, culminating with a Friday night clash against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

That probably means the latest Montour will return to the ice would be against the lowly Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 20, although there's hope he'll be ready before. That is also the case for Sam Bennett, who has only played a part of one game this year before returning to the IR.

No rush on Montour, Ekblad

But none of the three Panthers will be rushed back into action.

“We are not putting five months into this to bring [them] back a day early,” Maurice asserted. “We are going to be as comfortable and confident that they are ready to go… It’d be a chance for one, possibly two. I wouldn’t put them in at the start of a back to-back so it may only be one, but we’re in the 10-day window where I think we are going to see these guys back.”

Aaron Ekblad is also on the way, but Maurice made it clear his recovery is taking a little longer than Montour's. Both players battled through injuries as the Cats rolled through the Eastern Conference and came within three victories of the franchise's first Stanley Cup in June. Both D-men had surgery in the offseason.

Still, it's phenomenal news for fans of the Panthers. The team is treading water in the Atlantic Division but has been better of late, winning two games in a row to improve to 7-4-1.

It seems clear at this point that both Montour and Bennett will be back before the end of November, with Ekblad probably following a week or two later. That's music to the ears of residents in South Beach, who are hoping that all three can return healthy and build on last year's success.