The Florida Panthers have been playing some solid hockey over the past week, looking like the cohesive, dangerous unit we’ve come to expect over the past several seasons. They’ve had to find their way back despite going into the season without several key players and then losing a couple more once the games began. But now it appears the Cats have turned a corner, and it sounds like some of those aforementioned injured guys are starting to reach a point where they can get serious with their rehab. Well, at least one of them. On Thursday, Florida Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice provided an update on his plethora of injured players, starting with forward Matthew Tkachuk. “I think we're looking for him to hit the ice in the next two weeks,” Maurice said. Well, all right then. Tkachuk has been recovering from offseason surgery for a torn abductor muscle and sports hernia, injuries that he played through while helping Florida to win their second straight Stanley Cup last June. Maurice went on to provide some insight into Tkachuk and injured teammates Tomas Nosek, Sasha Barkov, Dmitry Kulikov and Jonah Gadjovich. “They're where they're supposed to be,” Maurice said. “For all five of our guys that are out, there's this block of healing time where there's not much they're doing. So they're moving, they're in the gym, they're doing the basic stuff. And then kind of when the doctor gets to that day, he says, ‘Okay, now you can go, now you can start progressing,’ how fast they get back to playing after that will be conditioning. You go out, you push them on the ice, they come back a little more sore than you thought they would, then you back off a day, and then you go back, and they come back in, and they feel really good, then you speed up a day.” Bottom line…once these guys are back on the ice, that’s when it’s safe to start tracking their progression. Getting back into ‘game shape’ isn’t an overnight process, but as we’ve learned about these Panthers, they are quite good at staying in excellent shape. Maurice has often talked about how well they all do on their fitness tests, and how they have come back with better numbers year over year in each of the past few seasons. So at a time where the Panthers appear to be turning a corner in their overall game play, there could be some even better news coming on the horizon. “Matthew hasn't hit the threshold that he's going to be back on the ice,” Maurice said. “So I would say, with all of them, I'll give you a better idea once the first day they hit the ice, because then we have a fairly good idea what the window is.” LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA Three takeaways: Panthers celebrate several milestones, power play starting to heat up [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/three-takeaways-panthers-celebrate-several-milestones-power-play-starting-to-heat-up] Reinhart scores twice, Marchand logs point 1,000 as Panthers clip Capitals in return to home ice [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/reinhart-scores-twice-marchand-logs-point-1-000-as-panthers-clip-capitals-in-return-to-home-ice] Players separated by 15 years, 1100 NHL games helping fuel Panthers recent run of consistency [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/players/players-separated-by-15-years-1100-nhl-games-helping-fuel-panthers-recent-run-of-consistency] Panthers kick off extended home stretch with battle against Alex Ovechkin, Capitals [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/game-day/panthers-kick-off-extended-home-stretch-with-battle-against-alex-ovechkin-capitals] Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk And Brother Brady Creating First Active NHL Players Podcast [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/latest-news/panthers-matthew-tkachuk-and-brother-brady-creating-first-active-nhl-players-podcast] Photo caption: Jun 7, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) practices during media day in advance of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
