Takeaways From 2025-26 Florida Panthers Media Day

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The second summer of champions is over for the Florida Panthers.

 

On Wednesday, the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champs returned to work at the Baptist Health IcePlex for Media Day.

 

Here are a few key takeaways leading into training camp.

 

Matthew Tkachuk Update

Star forward Matthew Tkachuk will miss the start of the 2025-26 NHL season and will likely be out until at least December after getting offseason surgery, Panthers general manager said Wednesday at media day.

 

“Anticipate him being out [until] Decemberish, Zito said of Tkachuk. “But don’t hold me [to] that with my internet medical degree.”

 

Tkachuk, 27, sustained a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia in February while playing for team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

 

After missing the remainder of the regular season following 4 Nations, Tkachuk returned for Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against Tampa Bay last season, playing out postseason out while injured.

 

Tomas Nosek Out Long-Term

Like Tkachuk, forward Tomas Nosek also had surgery or a lower-body injury and will miss several months.

 

Zito said Nosek will be sidelined after he picked up a “pretty significant injury” during offseason training.

 

“It’s going to be months for sure,” Zito added.

 

The 33-year-old, who centered the Panthers’ fourth-line during the Stanley Cup Final last season, re-signed with the team this summer on a one-year, $775k deal.

 

Bobrovsky Feels Good Entering Contract Year

Florida’s brick wall in the crease, more commonly known as Sergei Bobrovsky, is entering the final year of his seven-year, $70M contract that he signed in 2019.

 

Six years after joining Florida, the 36-year-old has a resume that puts him alongside the all-time greats, adding two Stanley Cups to his name and all but ensuring a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame when he decides to hang up the glove and blocker.

 

Speaking of hanging them up, when Bobrovsky was asked about his plans for the future, the candid goaltender gave an unsurprising response.

 

“I feel good. Physically, mentally, I feel like I’m in my prime,” Bobrovsky said. “As far as about the future, I don’t think too much [about that] to be honest. Again, I’m happy to be here and it doesn’t really matter, for this moment, what happens after this season.”

 

Panthers Change Training Camp Approach

Florida has played well into June in each of the past three seasons thanks to three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances.

 

While the back-to-back champs are roaring to begin what they hope to be a second-straight successful title defense, their approach entering the regular season will differ to really any training camp Florida has held.

 

The “veterans” will be sitting out the on-ice portion for the first week of camp, but will still take part in their normal off-ice preseason workouts.

 

“We all know we need to work hard,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said when speaking about not taking part in on-ice drills to start camp. “It’s not an extra week off.

 

“We still come in, we still have to do that stupid bike test,” Barkov laughed when likely referencing the energy depleting V02 Max Test.

 

For those not within the “veteran” category, as Zito referred to them in his media day presser, there will still be plenty of bodies taking part in the split-group on-ice sessions throughout the opening week of camp. The Panthers named 72 players to their training camp roster, meaning there will still be a full house of participants prior to the first wave of cuts.

 

Marchand, Ekblad Among Many Panthers Olympic Hopefuls

When the NHL stops down for a few weeks next February for the Olympic break, many Florida Panthers players will be there in Milan to represent their countries on the biggest global stage in sport.

 

Four Panthers have already been named to their respective countries’ preliminary Olympic rosters: Aleksander Barkov (Finland), Matthew Tkachuk (USA), Sam Reinhart (Canada) and Uvis Balinskis (Latvia). That number is likely to at least double when final rosters for the 2026 games are released in January.

 

Among the Olympic hopefuls are Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad. Both players were invited to Hockey Canada’s Olympic Orientation Camp in Calgary last month — as were Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Reinhart.

 

For Ekblad, there was a very good chance he would’ve been on the 2022 Canadian Olympic team if the NHL ended up sending their players to Beijing. The 29-year-old seemed to fall out of favor for Canada’s blueline over the past few seasons but has played himself back into contention to possibly crack the 2026 team.

 

“It was an honor and a privilege to be there,” Ekblad said regarding the Olympic camp invite. “I got to play extremely well to make that team and that will be my focus for the first half [of the season].”

 

“I had a lot of fun, [saw] a lot of familiar faces and some new ones from past years being at that camp. Obviously had quite a few guys on our team as well.”

 

With the NHL not going to the past two Winter Olympics, many NHL stars missed a golden opportunity to play for their country. Brad Marchand was one of those guys.

 

A star with the Bruins and a key contributor at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Marchand was all but a shoe-in to make both the 2018 and 2022 Canadian Olympic rosters.

 

Marchand, now 37, may have one more chance late in his career to live out his Olympic dream.

 

“It’s been a huge motivating factor for almost 15 years now,” Marchand said of playing for an Olympic spot. “Ever since I kind of had a taste back in ‘14 — going to that [Olympic] camp, being on that shorter list, it has been the thing that I wanted to accomplish the most and be part of.”