Injuries sideline the Panthers' playoff hopes, but a healthy squad and a potential lottery pick ignite optimism for next season.
The Florida Panthers are back on home ice as their 2025-26 season continues moving toward its end.
Florida has only nine games left on their schedule, with no additional Stanley Cup Playoff fun coming for the Cats this year.
It’s the first time since 2019 that the Panthers will not be playing any postseason games, ending a franchise-best streak of six straight years in the playoffs.
Considering the incredible amount of games lost to injury by Panthers players over the past several months, it’s not a big surprise that Florida didn’t have the same kind of success they’ve seen in recent years.
There is some good news to go with the season coming to an end.
First, a healthy Panthers squad will be considered among the favorites to compete for the Stanley Cup again once next season arrives.
Florida GM Bill Zito will also have some financial flexibility to work with this offseason, as well as a potential high-end asset to potentially flip.
That asset is the second piece of good news.
Should the Panthers finish in a position for a top-10 lottery pick, they will retain the selection despite including it in last season’s Trade Deadline deal that brought Seth Jones to Florida from the Chicago Blackhawks. Instead, the Panthers’ 2027 first round pick would go to Chicago.
Entering play Tuesday, Florida held the fifth-worst record in the league, ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks (50 points), Chicago Blackhawks (67 points), New York Rangers (69 points) and Calgary Flames (73 points).
The Panthers (73 points) are tied with both the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks in points, but hold tiebreakers on both due to having played more games than each.
Florida’s opponent on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators, are in a much different position than the Panthers.
Making the playoffs is a very real possibility for the Senators, who trail the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final Wild Card spot by just two points, and with a game in hand.
Ottawa is in a three-way tie with the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers, all holding 86 points and with 73 games played, but the Sens have a big advantage in the regulation wins department (32 for Ottawa, 28 for Detroit, 23 for Philly).
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Tuesday’s tussle with Ottawa:
Carter Verhaeghe – Eetu Luostarinen – Matthew Tkachuk
Mackie Samoskevich – Jesper Boqvist – A.J. Greer
Nolan Foote – Tomas Nosek – Noah Gregor
Cole Reinhardt – Luke Kunin – Vinnie Hinostroza
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Donovan Sebrango – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Mike Benning
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Photo caption: Oct 11, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) makes a save as Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) closes in during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)