The Colorado Avalanche played through major injuries on their quest to the Stanley Cup Final last year, as did the Florida Panthers this year.
It was a bittersweet ending for the Florida Panthers who lost 3-9 in the Stanley Cup-clinching Game 5 to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Panthers fought long and hard to get to the Final. Just how hard, came out after the game.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Matthew Tkachuk suffered a broken sternum in Game 3 and played Game 4 with the injury. Aaron Ekblad broke his foot in the Boston series, dislocated his shoulder more than once, had to take and passed a concussion test and tore an oblique muscle. Radko Gudas suffered a high ankle sprain that should’ve taken him out of the lineup. A few other players were dealing with injuries as well.
While Maurice said the team was banged up, he made it a point that he wasn’t making excuses. Rarely does a team come out 100% healthy after playing an additional two months of hockey.
One can assume Vegas didn’t win the Cup with a fully healthy squad either, even though nothing official has been said of who was playing with what ailment.
But as the Colorado Avalanche learned last year, it’s all worth it in the end. It was revealed after winning the Cup that Gabriel Landeskog played through an existing knee injury, Valeri Nichushkin played on a broken foot, Andre Burakovsky broke his foot and thumb, Darcy Kuemper missed games with a serious eye injury, Darren Helm tore his oblique muscle and Nazem Kadri broke his thumb. Sam Girard suffered the same injury as Tkachuk against the St. Louis Blues in the second round but didn’t return to the ice for the remainder of the playoffs.
Maurice said some of his players' injuries will spill over into next season. The Avalanche experienced that same rollover this past season. Helm only played 11 regular season games and one postseason game due to injury and Landeskog missed the entire 2022-23 season and will miss all of next season.
Although the Avalanche managed through their injuries to win the Cup, the Panthers will heal up and try again for that ultimate goal next year.
As for the Avalanche, they made the playoffs despite the long-term injuries and a season of rotating short-term injuries. Imagine what they can do with a healthy bench next season.