2:00 PM : The lower-body injury to Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov won’t keep him out for long. Head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News (Twitter link) that the center is expected to miss two to three weeks and is expected to be ready to play by the time Florida heads overseas in early November for games in Barkov’s native Finland, if not before then. That means he shouldn’t miss any more time relative to his original week-to-week designation. The 29-year-old has been a high-end two-way top center for several seasons now and has put up at least 78 points in each of the last three seasons. Harrington also noted that Florida winger Matthew Tkachuk won’t play tonight against Buffalo although his absence isn’t injury-related but rather due to illness.
Panthers Rumors
Panthers Recall Patrick Giles
With the Panthers needing some extra depth up front in the wake of the Aleksander Barkov injury that will keep him out for a few weeks at least, the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forward Patrick Giles from AHL Charlotte.
The 24-year-old signed with Florida as an undrafted free agent back in 2022 following a four-year run at Boston College. He has yet to play at the NHL level but took a step forward offensively last season, notching 13 goals and 10 assists in 66 games with the Checkers.
Giles was one of the final cuts at training camp for the Panthers after they gave him a long look in the preseason. He led the team in scoring with two goals and four assists while suiting up in seven of eight games as they gave him a chance to earn a spot on the fourth line. He didn’t get it then but he should get that opportunity now.
While Florida had two open roster spots and thus technically didn’t need a corresponding move to open one up, there still needed to be a corresponding transaction for cap reasons. Prior to the recall, the team only had $556K in cap space, not enough to afford Giles at his $775K price tag. With that in mind, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that center Tomas Nosek has been transferred to LTIR, meaning he’ll be out for at least the first 10 games and 24 days of the season (the placement can be retroactive to the start of the year) while freeing up enough space to add Giles to the roster.
Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury
Florida Panthers star Aleksander Barkov has been reported as out week-to-week by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Barkov had to be helped off the ice after awkwardly colliding with the boards while racing Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle to a loose puck that’d become the clinching empty-net goal. Pagnotta adds that Barkov seems to have dodged the worst-case scenario and that his injury is considered a bad ankle sprain.
Barkov’s importance to the Panthers can’t be understated. He’s been the team’s unrivaled top center since at least 2017-18, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time and scoring above point-per-game pace in all seven seasons since then. He’s become well-decorated in that span, winning the Lady Byng trophy in 2019, the Selke Trophy in 2021 and 2024, and the Stanley Cup in 2024. Barkov has so far managed just one assist in two games this season – adding three blocks, one hit, and no giveaways.
Filling the role of their team captain will be a daunting task for the Panthers. Sam Bennett has served as the team’s de facto second-line center, though Florida could look towards flexible forwards like Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, or Evan Rodrigues to step into a middle-lane role. This could also be a golden opportunity for the 23-year-old Anton Lundell, who’s recorded fewer than 17 minutes of ice time in each of Florida’s games this season. Lundell is building out his own reputation as a strong two-way player, even receiving votes for the Selke Trophy in his rookie 2021-22 season. Lundell posted an impressive 54.9 faceoff percentage last season, second on the team to Barkov’s 57.3 percent win-rate. That could be helfpul assurance as the Panthers look to hang onto their grip of all three zones without one of the world’s best defensive-forwards.
Adam Boqvist Out Tonight, Nate Schmidt Draws In
- Florida Panthers senior digital content manager, Jameson Olive, shares that defenseman Adam Boqvist will not play tonight as he continues to recover from taking a puck to the face in the team’s most recent game against the Bruins. Boqvist’s absence means veteran defenseman Nate Schmidt will debut with the Panthers tonight as they square off against the Ottawa Senators. The organization hopes that Boqvist can return in Saturday’s matchup against the Buffalo Sabres.
[SOURCE LINK]
Evening Notes: Bennett, Lemieux, Filmon
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period wonders if the Florida Panthers will turn their attention to signing center Sam Bennett after they locked up Carter Verhaeghe last night. Bennett is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent next July as he plays out the final year of his four-year $17.7MM contract. The 28-year-old had two goals in the Panthers season opener and is coming off three consecutive 40-plus-point seasons.
Last year, the Holland Landing, Ontario native registered 20 goals and 21 assists in 69 regular season games and was fantastic in the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final, posting seven goals and seven assists in 19 games. Pagnotta believes that a new long-term deal for Bennett could cost Florida between $6MM and $7MM annually.
In other evening notes:
- Carolina Hurricanes forward Brendan Lemieux suffered an injury in the team’s last preseason game and will miss some time (as per Chip Alexander of Raleigh News & Observer). The 28-year-old played quite a bit in the preseason and looked like a candidate to get more playing time this season after dressing in just 32 games last year as the Hurricanes 13th forward. Now, the undisclosed injury will force him to delay the start of his season.
- The New Jersey Devils have activated forward Josh Filmon off Injured, Non-Roster and assigned him to the Utica Comets of the AHL. The 20-year-old was dealing with an upper-body injury all through training camp and appears back to health and ready to start his season. Filmon was a 2022 sixth-round pick and spent all of last season in the Western Hockey League with the Swift Current Broncos where he posted 27 goals and 40 assists in 64 games. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native will be playing his first full season of professional hockey this year but does have four games of AHL experience from 2022-23 when he registered a single goal with Utica.
Panthers Recall Spencer Knight, Reassign Chris Driedger, MacKenzie Entwistle
As expected, Spencer Knight will start the year with the Florida Panthers. The organization announced they recalled Knight from their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers while sending goaltender Chris Driedger and forward MacKenzie Entwistle back the other way.
The move was primarily made for salary cap implications thanks to Knight’s $4.5MM salary. The organization signed him to a three-year, $13.5MM extension in 2022 while Knight was in the midst of the best season of his young career. The deal would prove premature with Sergei Bobrovsky taking back the net and Knight exclusively seeing AHL action last season.
He still carries significant prospect pedigree as the 13th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. He holds a 32-17-6 record in 49 starts since the start of the 2020-21 NHL season with a .906 save percentage and 2.91 goals-against average. The numbers may look fairly solid for an NHL backup but according to HockeyReference, Knight has a .421 quality start percentage, a 100 GA%-, and a -0.7 goals saved above average showing him as fairly pedestrian at the NHL level.
Last season with the Checkers didn’t do much to inspire confidence either with a 25-14-5 record in 45 games with a .905 SV%. He’s still the best option for the Panthers behind Bobrovsky despite being fairly expensive.
Driedger will immediately become the starting netminder in Charlotte after an impressive season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He finished with a 24-7-7 record in 39 games with a .917 SV%. He backstopped the Firebirds to a second straight Calder Cup final on the heels of a .906 SV% in 18 postseason contests.
Florida signed Entwistle this past summer after being non-tendered by the Chicago Blackhawks. He’ll likely be a bubble player for most of the year in the Panthers organization with 15 goals and 35 points over 193 appearances in four years at the NHL level.
Florida Panthers Extend Carter Verhaeghe
The Florida Panthers have come to terms on an extension with one of their best forwards from their run to a Stanley Cup championship a season ago. The team announces they have agreed to an eight-year extension with forward Carter Verhaeghe beginning next season.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Verhaeghe will earn $7MM each year of the deal with $46MM of the $56MM being paid out in bonuses. Friedman also adds that Florida gave Verhaeghe a six-year no-move clause that will begin this season and last the first five years of his new deal.
Verhaeghe had an odd pathway toward becoming one of the most consistent forwards on a Stanley Cup championship team. The Toronto Maple Leafs originally drafted him with the 82nd overall pick of the 2013 draft but he would only play two games in the organization by way of two appearances with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies in 2013-14. The Maple Leafs moved on quickly from Verhaeghe despite two solid years with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs as he was moved in the trade that brought Michael Grabner to Toronto.
His time in the New York Islanders organization was eerily similar to his time with the Maple Leafs playing exclusively in the AHL or ECHL. He failed to move his way up the Islanders’ depth chart and the team moved him to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a minor 2017 trade for Kristers Gudļevskis. His offensive potential was beginning to blossom upon his arrival in Tampa Bay scoring 51 goals and 130 points in 134 games for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch from 2017-19.
Verhaeghe made his NHL debut over six years after being drafted on October 3rd, 2019. He skated in 52 games for the Lightning that season scoring nine goals and 13 points while averaging 9:22 of ice time. He also played sparingly in Tampa Bay’s run to the Stanley Cup Final that season tallying two assists in eight games while getting his name on the Cup for the first time in his career.
The Bolts were seemingly unimpressed by Verhaeghe’s pedestrian scoring output in his rookie campaign and non-tendered him over the offseason. Their interstate rivals, the Panthers, acted quickly by signing Verhaeghe to a two-year, $2MM contract.
His major breakout happened almost instantaneously with the Panthers. He scored 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games for Florida in the Covid-shortened 2020-21 campaign and quickly became one of the best bargain contracts in the league. Verhaeghe followed up his breakout campaign with another solid year with 24 goals and 55 points in 78 contests which firmly cemented him in the Panthers’ top six. 
The last two years have been Verhaeghe’s best with 76 goals and 145 points in 157 games since the start of the 2022-23 NHL season. He’s also been one of Florida’s best playoff performers in the team’s back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final scoring 18 goals and 38 points in 45 postseason contests.
General manager of the Panthers, Bill Zito, spoke highly of Verhaeghe by saying, “Carter is one of our most trusted players. South Florida has watched him evolve into one of the NHL’s most elite goal scorers while also being a relentless forechecker. His willpower and perseverance have allowed him to repeatedly succeed as a critical performer on the biggest stages. He is an integral part of our team now and into the future, and we are thrilled to see him remain a part of our core group“.
Florida is making a major push to lock in their core for the foreseeable future and keep their contention window wide open. Verhaeghe’s extension marks the sixth Panthers’ player with at least six years left on their contract including Gustav Forsling, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Anton Lundell.
Evening Notes: Boqvist, Katchouk, Megna
The Florida Panthers have announced that defenseman Adam Boqvist will not return to tonight’s game due to injury after he was hit in the face by a clearing attempt in the first period. The 24-year-old signed a one-year two-way deal with the Panthers on July 9th after he was bought out of his contract by the Columbus Blue Jackets at the end of June.
Boqvist was hoping to rebuild his value with the Panthers after he struggled with health and consistency during his first five NHL seasons. The eighth overall pick in 2018 was a central part of the Seth Jones trade to Chicago in 2021 but has never been able to play more than 52 games in an NHL season. Boqvist’s ailment will likely remind people of his long injury history, but there is no news yet on his status going forward.
In other evening notes:
- The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed forward Boris Katchouk to an American Hockey League contract for the upcoming season. The former second-round pick spent the majority of last season in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks, posting seven goals and six assists in 59 NHL games. The 26-year-old has played 176 NHL games over the past three seasons but will have to battle his way back to the NHL after he was unable to secure an NHL contract this summer.
- The Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League have announced that their captain for the upcoming season will be veteran forward Jayson Megna. The 34-year-old has spent parts of 10 seasons in the NHL but played in just one NHL game last year with the Boston Bruins. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native is very familiar with the Eagles having spent four seasons in the organization, shuttling back and forth between the Eagles and the Colorado Avalanche.
Tomas Nosek Still Out Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury
- The Florida Panthers will be without some forward depth at the bottom of their lineup for the next few weeks. Senior digital content manager for the Florida Panthers, Jameson Olive, reported forward Tomas Nosek is still out week-to-week with an upper-body injury and confirmed he would not return by next week. Nosek signed a one-year, $775K contract with the Panthers this offseason and is largely expected to be the 12th or 13th forward for the team in most games.
[SOURCE LINK]
Panthers Place Chris Driedger, MacKenzie Entwistle On Waivers
The Panthers have placed goaltender Chris Driedger and forward MacKenzie Entwistle on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Charlotte, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. They’ll have three open roster spots and an extra $1.57MM cap space after they pass through or are claimed tomorrow, allowing them the flexibility to recall netminder Spencer Knight from AHL Charlotte as expected.
Driedger, 30, returned to the Sunshine State for his second stint with the Panthers in free agency this offseason on a one-way deal worth $795K. He’s been a high-ceiling NHL option when healthy, logging a career .917 SV% and 2.45 GAA in 67 appearances, but injuries have truncated his ability to cement himself as a full-time tandem option on a year-to-year basis.
He spent most of the last two years of the three-year, $10.5MM pact he signed with the Kraken in 2021 in the minors, making back-to-back Calder Cup Final appearances with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Driedger was especially strong last season, logging a .917 SV% and 24-7-7 record in 39 games for the Kraken’s farm club, but he’ll still end up as the No. 3 option in Florida – at least after backing up Sergei Bobrovsky for tonight’s contest against the Bruins.
With most teams in need of short-term goalie help making claims over the past few days, Driedger stands a shot to pass through waivers unclaimed. Teams looking to stash him in the minors for insurance would need to waive him again to do so, just opening the door for Florida to bring him back.
Entwistle, 25, had served as a frequent fourth-line option for the Blackhawks over the past three seasons. He’s made 193 career appearances, scoring 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points with a -55 rating. Despite an eye-popping -29 mark last year despite averaging just 11:23 per game, Entwistle posted the strongest possession metrics of his career with a 43.8 CF%, slightly above Chicago’s horrid team average.
After going unqualified and signing a two-way deal with the Cats, Entwistle technically cracked the opening night roster but is projected to be a healthy scratch for tonight’s home opener. If he clears and heads to the AHL, he’ll earn a $450K salary.