Key players near return as Panthers navigate a challenging road trip with their playoff and draft lottery hopes shifting.
The Florida Panthers will continue their four-game western road trip north of the border.
After suffering a frustrating 6-2 defeat on Sunday night in Seattle, the Panthers pulled out their passports and boarded a flight heading north.
Florida will now wrap up the rest of their four-game road trip in Canada, starting on Tuesday night when they face the Vancouver Canucks.
The Panthers are close to welcoming a pair of key players back into their lineup, it’s just undetermined as to whether that will happen against Vancouver or later in the week, when the Panthers wrap up their trip with back-to-back games in Edmonton and Calgary.
Those players are center Sam Bennett and defenseman Seth Jones.
Bennett has been trying to battle through an injury he sustained during Florida’s 2-1 overtime win over Columbus on Thursday and is considered day-to-day.
Prior to being hurt, Bennett had racked up five goals and eight points over his previous eight games.
As for Jones, he has been slowly but surely working his way back from a broken collarbone that he suffered during the NHL Winter Classic back on Jan. 2 at loanDepot park in Miami.
Over the past several weeks, Jones has been practicing with the team and ramping up the physicality, waiting to get final clearance from Florida’s medical staff. All signs are pointing to that happening sometime on this trip.
An additional two injured Panthers players, Jonah Gadjovich and Uvis Balinskis, are also not far from returning, but they aren’t expected back in the lineup until after the aforementioned Cats make their respective comebacks.
Entering play Tuesday, the Panthers have dropped to last place in the Atlantic Division and second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, holding just 69 points through 66 games.
In terms of the playoff race, Florida currently sits 11 points behind the Boston Bruins for the final Wild Card spot, but as each day passes, more of the focus is shifting to where the Cats’ stand in the battle for better standing in the NHL Draft Lottery.
That’s because Florida’s pick is top-10 lottery protected.
At the moment, there are seven teams with fewer points than the Panthers. It will certainly be something to keep tabs on as the season winds down.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Tuesday’s tussle in Vancouver:
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Matthew Tkachuk
Carter Verhaeghe – Evan Rodrigues – Mackie Samoskevich
Cole Reinhardt – Tomas Nosek – A.J. Greer
Jesper Boqvist – Luke Kunin – Vinnie Hinostroza
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Mike Benning
Donovan Sebrango – Dmitry Kulikov
Extras: Sam Bennett, Uvis Balinskis, Sam Reinhart (not on trip)
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Photo caption: Mar 15, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) plays the puck against the Seattle Kraken during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. (Steven Bisig-Imagn Images)