Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Oct 7, 2026 4:37 PM
Just days after Sasha Barkov’s departure, the Panthers face a fresh injury crisis as another star forward left Tuesday's game in Los Angeles, testing Florida’s touted roster depth.
It looks like the Florida Panthers may have lost another key player to injury.
Tuesday night in Los Angeles, Panthers forward Brad Marchand went down awkwardly next to the Kings’ net late in the second period and immediately began grabbing at his left knee.
Marchand was able to get up off the ice after a couple minutes, with teammates helping him to the bench before team medical staff slowly walked him to the locker room for further evaluations.
He did not appear to put any weight on his left leg throughout the trip to Florida’s dressing room.
Marchand was playing in just his second game of the season, one he wasn’t expected to begin until sometime in November after recovering from offseason surgery.
It was a very pleasant surprise when Marchand was cleared to return sooner than they had hoped, slotting in to the lineup on Sunday in Anaheim and scoring a late, game-tying goal in his season debut.
Unfortunately, the good vibes didn’t last very long.
After playing 12 shifts and just under 10 minutes on Tuesday, Marchand was hurt once again.
“Brutal,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk after the game. “It just sucks. Unfortunate.”
Head coach Paul Maurice said Marchand likely wouldn’t get fully checked out until Thursday, as the team stayed overnight in Los Angeles and fly back to South Florida on Wednesday.
Marchand’s injury was the second one suffered by a Panthers player during the road trip.
Thursday night in San Jose, Florida captain Sasha Barkov left the game early after suffering a lower-body injury, also to his left leg.
Between the play itself and Barkov’s initial reaction, the feeling was that the diagnosis would not be favorable.
That’s why it was a bit of a pleasant surprise when Maurice said Tuesday afternoon that Barkov was expected to miss six to eight weeks.
Still, it stinks for the Panthers to have two key players suffer potentially serious injuries during the first week of the season, especially coming off an injury-plagued 2025-26 season in which the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions failed to even qualify for the playoffs.
“Everyone gets hit with injuries, we’re not going to have a victim mentality,” said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones. “It’s next man up, that’s how it’s always been. We can’t think about the past or last year. Injuries happen. I think we have an extremely deep team, everyone plays the exact same way, and I think that’s what makes us great. Whether it’s a young guy coming in or another guy coming in from an injury, we’ll have full confidence in our game.”
Florida’s experience from last season will surely help them navigate another stretch of injuries.
They just have to hope that it’s not another situation where players continue to go down consistently.
The Panthers have arguably the deepest roster in the NHL, and they are equipped to manage situations like this, assuming this don’t get out of hand again.
“We know we have good depth,” said Maurice. “There’s a threshold for any team, a number of injuries you just can’t survive, and we passed that early last year so we have a real good resolve here. The tank is deep right now, we had a big summer off, so we’re strong.”
On Tuesday night, Florida showed that resolve by pulling out a late victory despite playing without a pair of crucial forwards.
It’s a mentality the team will have to continue adhering to while pushing to prove this season is different than last year.
“When your name is called and you get the tap on the back to go out there, you just go out there and do a job,” said Tkachuk. “I think when guys are banged up or out of the lineup or coming out mid-game, you’ve just got to oversimplify it and…that’s alright, Panthers hockey, you win low scoring games, and it trains us for the playoffs.”
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Photo caption: Oct 6, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Florida Panthers left wingBradMarchand(63) is helped off the ice by left wingBrady Tkachuk (8) and defenseman Niko Mikkola (77) in the third period after an injury against the LA Kings at Crypto.com Arena. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
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