Sam Bennett will not play Opening Night, may still travel on road trip

Florida begins a season-opening three-game road trip on Thursday night in Minnesota

The Florida Panthers will be without center Sam Bennett when they open the season on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild.

Bennett suffered a lower-body injury during last Thursday's preseason game in Tampa Bay.

He was seen the following day wearing a walking boot on his left leg.

On Tuesday, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said Bennett would not be playing on Opening Night but left the door open for him to possibly make his season debut sometime during Florida's three-game road trip.

"He won't play in the opener, for sure. I don't know (if he'll travel) because it is a day-to-day thing, in terms of when we project him to be able to skate," Maurice said.

In Bennett's absence, Maurice moved Eetu Luostarinen to the second line center spot, where he's been flanked by Nick Cousins and Matthew Tkachuk during practices this week. 

After facing Minnesota on Thursday, the Panthers will head up to Winnipeg for a 4 p.m. matchup with the Jets on Saturday before heading east and wrapping up the trip on Monday night against the New Jersey Devils.

Bennett being close enough that he could potentially skate with the team in the coming days is a strong indication that his injury isn't anything serious.

The Panthers have practice days tentatively scheduled for Friday in Winnipeg and Sunday in Newark. Those would be days where Bennett, if healthy enough, could potentially rejoin his teammates.

That's where the choice to bring him on the trip or not comes into play.

"If we don't feel that he's going to get meaningful ice time, we would leave him back," Maurice said.

Either way, it sounds like Bennett is nearing a return, which is good news for the Panthers.