Panthers players returned to the ice Saturday in South Florida, and injury updates were provided by Paul Maurice on several players.
The Florida Panthers players who aren’t competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics took the ice in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday morning.
It was the first formal practice held by the Panthers since the NHL hit the pause button on its 2025-26 season due to a large portion of its players participating in the best-on-best greatness that has been happening for past couple weeks in Italy.
None of the 10 Panthers players selected to compete at the Olympics have returned, and all but three of them were still playing as of Saturday’s bronze medal game.
While Florida’s players who participated in Milan and have since been eliminated have yet to return to the team, Panthers Assistant Coach Jamie Kompon, who was in the same role for Team Germany, was present at Saturday’s skate.
Everyone else on the team was on the ice, and that includes several of Florida’s players who have been working their way back from injuries.
Let’s go down the list.
Forwards Tomas Nosek and Jonah Gadjovich both skated, as did defenseman Dmitry Kulikov.
Nosek and Kulikov both wore gold non-contact jerseys while Gadjovch appeared to be a full-go.
Afterwards, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said that all three could potentially return at some point during Florida’s upcoming road trip that beings Sunday on Long Island.
He said Nosek and Kulikov could be cleared for contact sometime during the upcoming week.
Panthers captain Sasha Barkov and defenseman Seth Jones also skated on Saturday, but before the team’s formal practice.
Barkov is still a ways away from being game-ready while Jones is closer to returning, but not as close as the three aforementioned players.
As for guys who were a little dinged up heading into the break – Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues, Daniil Tarasov, Brad Marchand, Tobias Bjornfot – all are expected to be in the lineup when the team resumes the season on Thursday against Toronto.
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