Panthers stars saw minimal Olympic ice time in Canada's dominant 5-0 shutout win in their tournament opener against Czechia.
No NHL team has more players participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics than the Florida Panthers.
Of the ten Panthers players in Milan for the Olympics, three of them took the ice on Thursday for Team Canada.
The Canadians skated to a resounding 5-0 victory over Czechia in their Olympic opener, though the services of the three members of the Panthers weren’t called upon nearly as much as the majority of their teammates in red and white.
Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand skated on Canada’s fourth line, flanking center Bo Horvat, while Sam Bennett was sprinkled in throughout the game but didn’t have a consistent spot on the four lines.
Reinhart led all Panthers players with 19 shifts and 10:01 of ice time, finishing with one shot and a plus-1 on-ice rating.
His bump in ice time compared to his Cats-mates was due to a few extra shifts on Canada’s top power play, where Reinhart was slotted in the familiar bumper position between the circles.
Next came Marchand, who was on the ice for 15 shifts and 9:29 of ice time, logging the primary assist on Horvat’s second-period goal that gave Canada a 3-0 lead. Along with the assist, Marchand logged two shots on goal and a plus-1 on-ice rating.
Bennett was only on the ice for 11 shifts and 7:19 of ice time, registering one shot on goal.
The only other Canadian forward with comparable ice time to the three Panthers was Horvat’s 19 shifts and 9:54 on the ice. The next lowest forward was Nick Suzuki, who was on the ice for 23 shifts and 13:33.
This development would seem like a good one from both a Panthers perspective and a Canadian one.
On the Panthers side, it means three of the team’s key forwards are seeing limited wear and tear and will hopefully come out of the Olympics in as good of health as possible for the team’s pending push for the playoffs.
As for Team Canada, they just earned a solid 5-goal shutout victory in their Olympic opener, so they’ve got to be feeling pretty good out of the gate.
We’ll see how the Canadians fare, and if they continue rolling lines in a similar fashion, when they battle Switzerland on Friday. The Swiss also earned a shutout win in their opener, defeating France 4-0 on Wednesday.
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Photo caption: Feb 12, 2026; Milan, Italy; Brad Marchand of Canada in action with Lukas Sedlak of Czechia in a men's ice hockey group A match during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)