The Panthers veteran stepping up with Barkov, Marchand out. Plus Ekblad’s a dad

Florida Panthers admin October 10, 2026 0 Comments

The Panthers veteran stepping up with Barkov, Marchand out. Plus Ekblad’s a dad

While the Florida Panthers received relatively good news about the injuries to Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand — Barkov out six to eight weeks, Marchand six weeks — the team still is tasked with figuring out how to replace their star forwards.

“Well,” winger Matthew Tkachuk said, “you don’t. Those are guys that have been huge offense and defensive impacts in their career, but we’re no stranger to guys going down the last few years, and guys have done a great job of stepping up.”

So who gets the first crack to step up this time?

Enter Lars Eller.

The 18-season NHL veteran with one Stanley Cup and nearly 1,200 regular-season games to his name was slated to center Florida’s line with wingers Brady Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart when the Panthers play their home opener against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. That’s the same line Barkov centered the first two games before going down with his knee injury and the one Marchand skated on for the following two games before injuring his left leg.

Eller, who primarily centered Florida’s fourth line with Garnet Hathaway and Bokondji Imama, entered Saturday tied for the team lead in points (three) and assists (three).

“He’s such an accomplished pro that I think he can play any position and understand the role and what it means,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

Eller, who is also a key forward on Florida’s penalty kill, has briefly skated with Brady Tkachuk and Reinhart already this season, doing so late in Florida’s 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 1 after Barkov sustained his injury. The trio held a 6-5 edge over the Sharks in shot attempts and 3-2 edge in shots on goal over about six minutes of ice time at five-on-five.

“It’s no different this time,” Eller said of playing extra minutes and taking on extra responsibilities. “I’ve been playing up at times in my career when guys get hurt, so it’s the same thing. I want to play with the puck on the offensive side, but you have to play well defensively for that to bring out your offense. That’s my game, and I’m going to try to complement my linemates as best I can.”

With Eller moving up in the lineup, Sam Lafferty was set to make his Panthers debut and center the fourth line with Hathaway and Imama on his wings. Lafferty, who signed a two-way deal with the Panthers in the offseason, has skated in 378 career regular-season games across seven NHL seasons.

New dad Ekblad

While all the talk on the Panthers’ roster has understandably focused on the injuries to Barkov and Marchand, the team was also without one of its top defensemen for the final two games of its season-opening road trip.

Aaron Ekblad had a good reason for his absence.

Ekblad left midway through the trip to be back home for the birth of his first child, a boy. Wife and son are both doing well, Ekblad said.

“Nice to be home and have the little guy home,” Ekblad said, adding the family spent four nights in the hospital after his son’s birth on Monday before they were discharged on Friday.

Ekblad, the second-longest tenured Panther behind Barkov, now joins the continuously growing parental fraternity inside the dressing room. Nearly every player on the team is a dad, with seemingly a few players becoming first-time fathers each of the past few seasons.

“It’s unbelievable,” Ekblad said.

What’s also unbelievable: When Ekblad suits up for Florida’s home opener on Saturday, he’s going to break a tie with Barkov and become the Panthers’ leader in all-time games played at 807. He tied Barkov on March 31 last season with 805 games before missing the final eight games of the campaign with injury. Ekblad and Barkov both played in the first two games of this season before missing the second half of the road trip.

Power play woes

While the Panthers have been dominant when playing at five on five so far this season, allowing just two goals at full strength on the four-game road trip, the team has failed to capitalize on extensive power-play opportunities thus far.

Florida went just 1 for 23 on the man advantage during the road trip. They generated 29 total shots on those power-play chances.

“There’s been zone time,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “There have been chances. We haven’t capitalized on them. I think the biggest thing right now is not wasting energy going up and down the ice — getting pucks in their zone and keeping them in the zone. Our break-ins or our entries have been sloppy, and that’s on us. We’ve got to figure that out. We’ve got all the plans and everything. We’ve just got to go out and execute it.”