The Florida Panthers are hoping to be as healthy as possible for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That was the message from Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice following the final game of Florida's regular season, which took place on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay.
For the past several weeks, the Florida's plan has been to have the team as physically healthy as possible when the postseason arrives.
It appears that, barring any setbacks, they'll be as close to full strength as possible when Game 1 against Tampa Bay.
"I think we're going to be able to get – Matthew (Tkachuk) is the guy that maybe we're wondering about, and we'll have pretty good answer to that in a few days – but I think everybody else would be healthy," Maurice said.
Tkachuk has not played since suffering an apparent groin injury during the 4 Nations Face-Off back in February.
He has been skating on his own for a couple weeks but is expected to begin ramping things up and possibly join regular team practices as soon as Thursday at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.
On Wednesday, Tkachuk made an appearance on the Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams and spoke about his down time.
"It's been crushing me the last little bit, I've been wanting to get out there so bad," he said. "For the last month and a little bit I've just been itching so badly, so I can't wait to get back out, whenever that day is. Hopefully very, very soon."
Predictably asked about his injury status, Tkachuk gave a cryptically-positive answer.
"I think I'd get in trouble if I said (when I'm playing)," Tkachuk said through a laugh. "I will say it's been a very good last probably few days on the ice. I've really only been on the ice for a couple days with like legit skates, so I'm just trying to peak sometime around Game 1. I'm looking forward to it."
While Tkachuk will obviously be a welcomed addition to Florida's playoff lineup, Maurice understands how the postseason works.
Expecting to have a fully healthy roster available for your playoff run is probably not the best idea. Injuries are going to pop up during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The hope is that Florida can mitigate the damage similarly to how they did last year.
"I don't know that I'm counting that we'll ever get to (full health)," said Maurice. "After the second game of the playoffs we'll get Aaron Ekblad back, but there's no guarantee you've got the rest of your team. That's what playoffs is all about, right? You lose guys. We lost Sam Bennett I think Game 3 last year, and for five games, so I'd be a wonderful thing if it ever happened, but we're not counting on it."
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