Panthers captain reveals difference between Florida and Maple Leafs.
It’s hard to win the Stanley Cup. It’s nearly impossible to win it two years in a row. The Florida Panthers are starting to find out what the price of hoisting two Lord Stanley’s is in the National Hockey League.
It was announced today that captain Aleksander Barkov left the ice half way through today’s practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He had to be helped to the tunnel where he was unable to play full weight on his right leg.
Coach Pat Maurice was very stoic when addressing the injury.
“It’s beyond our control,” Maurice said. “We have to learn to win hockey games without good players and if that’s the adversity or the test that we face this year, then that’s what we’re going to do. I mean, I’m not a doctor. Whatever the report is won’t affect how we handle that next day.”
The bench boss continued, saying that, despite the laundry list of high profile injuries, it is always next man up in Sunrise.
“If he’s out of the lineup on opening night, or if he misses an exhibition game, or if he is out long term, it’s just not going to affect that day,” Maurice said. “We have to win the hockey game. We have to prep for it. That’s all.”
Maurice told reporters more details would be made available tomorrow, but admittedly, the video did not look good.
“It will get looked at today,” coach Maurice continued. “I will have a better answer for you tomorrow.”
One of the league’s biggest stars, Matthew Tkachuk, announced that he had a successful surgery over the offseason to address a torn abductor muscle suffered last season. He also recovering from a slew of other injuries gathered over the course of back to back cup runs.
He is expected to be out until “December-ish”.
This is the downside of deep playoff runs in a sport with such a short offseason and part of the reason why people say winning back-to-back Stanley Cups is so difficult.
Not to mention, the team made a cup run in 2023 as well, losing in five to Vegas. This combines for a total of more than 300 games in the last three seasons.
For guys like Barkov and Tkachuk, playing more than 20 minutes a night, it’s easy to see how their body could get beaten down.
Fourth liner Tomas Nosek is also out for “months for sure”.
