After splitting the first half of a four-game west coa​​st road trip with a win 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday and 2-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings the following night, the Florida Panthers sit three points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for first in the Atlantic Division.

The team will remain in California for a few more days as they’ll face the San Jose Sharks on Saturday before making a quick turnaround to face the Vegas Golden Knights less than 24 hours later in Las Vegas.

While the Panthers are on the other side of the country, here’s what you may have missed while the team is on the road. 

Matthew Tkachuk models for Perry Ellis

Less than a month from now NHL players will be trading in their club uniforms for their country’s as the 4 Nations Face-Off is set​​ to drop the puck on Feb. 12 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

The Panthers have a league-leading eight players who will represent their respective nations at the tournament next month. 

On Thursday, the spotlight belonged to Matthew Tkachuk, as he was announced as Perry Ellis’ off-ice ambassador for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Statement from the official press release:

“Florida Panthers and 4 Nations Face-Off USA forward Matthew Tkachuk takes center ice across Perry Ellis channels to promote key products perfect for avid hockey fans ready to level-up their style game. Tkachuk will also serve as Perry Ellis’ Off-Ice Ambassador during the tournament, and beyond the 4 Nations Face-Off, Tkachuk will be featured in content for the brand throughout this NHL season, including in a series of photos and videos.”

Tkachuk, 27, was also featured in a promotional video for the partnership, which saw the Panthers star dawn both Team USA’s official jersey for the tournament, as well as Perry Ellis attire. 

Sam Bennett snaps 20-game goal drought

Starting the year red hot with 13 goals in 24 games, Sam Bennett’s play notched himself a spot on Team Canada’s 4 Nations roster.

In the midst of a contract year, everything appeared to be going right for the Panthers forward, until he hit a wall. 

After scoring for a fourth-consecutive game on Dec. 3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bennett wouldn’t see his name in the goal column for seven weeks.

Bennett had gone 20 straight games without scoring a goal entering Tuesday night’s matchup against the Ducks. 

In the third period, with the Panthers leading 3-2, Bennett was finally able to get the burden off his back after he slipped a shot from the slot past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal for his 14th goal of the season.

The reaction from Bennett was one of relief once​ he saw the red light finally flash for him after going nearly two months without a goal.

Aaron Ekblad still out with injury 

Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad has missed seven straight games and eight of the last nine with an upper-body injury.

Ekblad, 28, plays top-two minutes on the Panthers blueline, while also featuring on both the penalty kill and power play throughout the season.  

The Panthers are 3-4-1 without Ekblad in the lineup and have shown some lapses in their defensive play without the franchises’ longest tenured defenseman in the lineup.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said on Wednesday that they’re hoping Ekblad can join the team for their Friday practice session. He also said earlier in the week that the hope is for Ekblad to return on the current road trip. 

23-year-old Tobias Bjornfot — who spent most of the year in the AHL with Charlotte — has filled in on the blue line in Ekblad’s absence, playing in eight games over that span.

There’s something about international sports that gets people excited. 

National pride certainly plays a part in it. Whether it’s a few days or a few weeks, sports fans temporarily put aside their normal rivalries; New York and Boston tolerate each other, Montrealers and Torontonians root for the same team — it’s a fun time when the national colors come on. 

Unfortunately for hockey fans, they’ve waited too long to see their favorite players on a best-on-best stage, international stage.

After Canada won their second-straight Gold Medal at Sochi 2014, the NHL did not send its players to the next two Winter Olympics — opting to skip out on  PyeongChang in 2018, then pulling out of the Beijing games in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Consensus around the league hasn’t changed for years; the players want to represent their countries in best-on-best tournaments. 

The 4 Nations Face-Off — which is set to take place in Montreal and Boston from Feb 12-20 — will be the first best-on-best tournament in the senior men’s game since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. 

International hockey is coming back and the best players in the world will be suited up for it. 

Who will be there? Who can be?

All teams must have their full rosters submitted by Dec. 2; the selections will be made public on Dec. 4.

Last June, all of the participating countries had to name six players who were guaranteed roster spots for the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

The Florida Panthers have three players who were named to a 4 Nations roster last summer and there will certainly be a few more once the official teams are announced.

Here’s the Panthers who will be there (barring injury) and those who could see their name called.

TEAM USA 

Matthew Tkachuk already knows he’ll be wearing the red, white and blue, the 26-year-old forward was one of the American’s first six players selected back in June. 

Tkachuck will almost certainly be the lone Panther skater representing Team USA at the 4 Nations, however he won’t be the only Panther there.

Florida’s GM Bill Zito will be part of the American’s management staff and Head Equipment Manager Teddy Richards will be there as the equipment manager. 

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Team Finland 

Last season, Aleksander Barkov became the first Finnish captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup. The 29-year-old Panthers’ leader is arguably the best Finnish player in the league right now; he was obviously one of the first six Finns selected for the 4 Nations tournament.

Barkov has represented his country a few times already at a best-on-best stage. He won a bronze medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and also played at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. 

As the only active Finnish captain in the NHL, Barkov very well could be wearing the “C” this February for Finland.

We already know Barkov has his spot secured for the 4 Nations, but it’s likely he’ll be joined by a few more Panther Finns in February.

Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, and Niko Mikkola are the other three Finnish players on the Panthers roster. Looking at numerous roster predictions, the consensus around the media world is that all three of them are projected to make the team.

Lundell and Luostarinen have solidified themselves as legit top-9 NHLers over the past few seasons, with the duo playing an immense role in the Panthers winning the 2024 Stanley Cup. 

“That’s my goal, that would be a huge honor to play for Team Finland,” Lundell told me in early November. “You don’t think about it but it’s a big goal for me as well. I’m just trying to play as good as I can to show the coach there that I want to be on the team. Hopefully I’ll make it, but right now I stay in the moment and try to play as good as I can.”

Last season, Mikkola established himself as a mainstay on the Panthers blueline, eating plenty of minutes at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill. There’s only 10 active Finnish defenseman in the NHL this season and Florida’s 6’6 stalwart blueliner should easily find himself in that lineup.

If my prediction of Luostarinen, Lundell and Mikkola making the team comes to fruition, the Panthers will have four players on Team Finland at the 4 Nations. 

Team Sweden

People in South Florida have heavily rated defenseman Gustav Forsling for years at this point, but his national coming out party came during the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final last season.

After winning the Cup as Florida’s No. 1 defenseman, the 28-year-old put the hockey world on notice — including those picking the Swedish national team.

Forsling was named as one of Sweden’s first six players selected for the 4 Nations, making him one of three Panthers skaters (Tkachuk, USA, Barkov, Finland) to have their spot secured for the tournament ne​​xt year.

This won’t be the first time Forsling represents Sweden, as he played in two World uniors — captaining the Swedish team in 2016 — also make an appearance at the 2015-16 Euro Hockey Tour. However, he’s never played for his country at a major, senior men’s tournament. 

The 4 Nations Face-Off is not a IIHF sanctioned event, but it is reserved strictly for players who have a 2024-25 NHL contract and are on an NHL roster, so it’s undoubtedly best-on best. A big reason for this tournament is to prepare for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics — where the NHL will be sending its players, 

“That’s the ultimate goal I feel like, the Olympics would be a very cool experience if I would make the team there too,” Forsling said in June after making Team Sweden. “That’s kind of what we’re playing for, to get to the Olympics.”

Team Canada

Canada is the only country that did not have a Panther in its initial six roster selections. That being said, the Stanley Cup champions have a few legit options that could make the Canadian roster.

According to TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun, the Canadians made its final roster decisions on Nov 30, with a few “difficult” decisions as the roster came down to the last few players.

Nothing is guaranteed, but Sam Reinhart being selected to make Team Canada wouldn’t have been one of those difficult choices. The North Vancouver, BC native had 57 goals last season — second most in the NHL. 

Reinhart has been anything but a regressor this season. The 28-year-old leads the NHL with 18 goals in 25 games and is top five in points (34).

Him making the Canadian roster is all but in writing, the real question is how many of his Panthers teammates will join him.

On the other hand, his teammates — forwards Carter Verheaghe and Sam Bennett — very likely could’ve been involved in those last few cuts. 

I had both of them as bubble players to make the Canadian roster. While they undoubtedly deserve to be there — especially considering their respective playoff resumes — Canada has far and away the deepest forward pool to choose from.

Verhaeghe has been Florida’s most consistent goal scorer — regular and postseason — since he arrived in 2020-21. But Canada is already filled to the brim with elite goal scorers, with the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point, Connor McDavid already on the team.

Bennett’s play last postseason, followed by his fantastic start to this campaign very well should have raised eyes amongst the Canadian brass. 12 goals, 23 points in 24 games has Bennett top 15 in league scoring a quarter of a way to the season, yet his value to Team Canada relies within his heavy, 200-foot game — which would be important for tournament play.

If I had to guess which of the two would more likely be on Canada, I lean towards Bennett, mostly because he is one of the most physical skilled players in the league and hasn’t slowed down since the season began.

There’s one more Panther who hasn’t been getting a ton of media attention in 4 Nation mocks, but may have an outside shot to make the Canadian roster.

It’s Aaron Ekblad. 

The Windsor, ON. native is no stranger to international hockey. He played for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey and represented Canada at the World Championships in 2015 and 2018.

Two years ago, Ekblad was a favorite to make the 2022 Olympic team before the NHL opted out.

On a personal level, the part of Ekblad’s game that jumped out to fans was how offensive minded he was, while still being the best defender on the Panthers. 

Following a few injuries, the now 28-year-old pivoted his game — for the better of his club — focusing more on being a shutdown defenseman and it paid off for the Panthers as they won the Stanley Cup with Ekblad on their top pair. 

“How we appreciate defensemen has changed over the years and it’s skewed to points now,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said earlier this week. “Aaron came in as that player — he was quite a point producer for a while — but he’s been a big part of the change in style of play.”

Ekblad has been a top pair defenseman on a team that had back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances. He’s not flashy like some of the other potential blueline candidates, but there’s one thing Ekblad has shown over the past few years — he can play at a high-level when the lights are the brightest. 

“He’s a spectacular defender, he and Gus [Forsling] are fantastic players,” Maurice added. “I appreciate that for him because there’s a sacrifice that goes with it. A player is up for a contract, these guys all now get paid on points and there’s a sacrifice for him, to our team, to put the defense first and he’s done that.”

The Panthers will be well represented at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Whether there’s three players, six, or more, the defending Stanley Cup champions will see their guys ready to go for gold on an international stage.

Best-on-best international hockey is soon to return and one Florida Panther is making his case to be there for it. 

Sam Bennett has been an instrumental piece to the Panthers’ success over the past few years — especially come playoff time.

After helping the Panthers win the Stanley Cup last season, the 28-year-old forward is off to the best start of his 10-year NHL career, scoring 8 goals and 13 points through 13 games.

Bennett’s early regular season hot streak couldn’t come at a better time. He’s in the final year of a four-year contract and is sure to garner a lot of interest if he hits the open market this summer. 

But being a top pending UFA isn’t the only reason why eyes could be on Bennett this season.

Florida’s high-octane second-line center may be playing himself into a roster spot on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off.

All four teams: Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden, will need to have their 23-man rosters submitted by Dec. 2 for the international tournament that is set to run from Feb. 12-20 next year. 

In their latest roster projections, The Athletic has Bennett making Team Canada — alongside his Panther teammate Sam Reinhart.

Before last postseason, Bennett probably wouldn’t have been in too many mock rosters for this tournament — but the success of the Panthers has certainly put more eyes on the defending Cup champions’ players.

Bennett had 14 points (7-7-14) in 19 playoff games during Florida’s Cup run last season — with 12 of them coming after injuring his hand in Game 2 of the first-round.

Bennett is currently on pace to score 52 goals and 82 points in an 82 game season — which would shatter his career highs. It’s unlikely that Bennett will sustain that offensive production but scoring isn’t his entire game. 

While he can produce offensively, Canada’s front office will have a plethora of scoring options to choose from. Bennett’s chance of making the team will largely be due to his physical, 200-foot game

For these short, best-on-best tournaments, there’s no time for trial and error. Bennett has the resume of performing well on the biggest stages and the aggressive play style he’s known for only  hits another gear in elimination settings. 

The Canadian roster will be filled to the brim with exceptional superstar forwards, like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Brayden Point. Scoring goals won’t be an issue, however they will need a hard hitting, physical line — that’s where Bennett’s services could be used.

Bruins forward Brad Marchand is one of the few skilled Canadian forwards that fits the “physical forward” mold that they’ll need for this tournament. The Bruins captain is already on the team and Bennett would be another great option if Canada wants to have a ‘heavy’ line.

The 4 Nations Face-Off won’t have any semi-final matchups, they’ll go from round-robin play straight to the final. Each team plays each other once — with the best two making the final in Boston. 

Looking at how teams could line up, the Americans will certainly have a heavy roster, with the Tkachuk brothers there to lead the charge in the pesky play department.  It wouldn’t be a bad idea if Canada had Bennett there to counteract someone like his Panther linemate Matthew Tkachuk’s style of play. 

Three Panthers were already named to their respective countries’ rosters  — with Aleksander Barkov (Finland), Gustav Forsling (Sweden) and Matthew Tkachuk (USA) all being part of their nation’s first six names called back in June. 

Florida will more than likely be represented by every nation at the tournament as  Sam Reinhart is expected to be one of the 20 skaters that Canada takes with them to Montreal and Boston next February.

There’s less than a month before rosters are finalized for the 4 Nations. If Bennett keeps up his current play, the Holland Landing, ON. native could see himself dawning the maple leaf come February. 

It was an emotional Tuesday night in Columbus as the Blue Jackets took the ice for their home opener against the Florida Panthers. 

The night started with Columbus and Florida wearing no. 13 ‘Gaudreau’ jerseys for their pregame warmups, honoring the late Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau, who tragically passed away in August. 

Pregame continued with a beautiful yet heart wrenching tribute video for Johnny and his late brother Matthew — who passed away on that same day in August.

Johnny and Matthew’s parents, and sisters, watched from the bench as Johnny’s wife Meredith took to center ice with their children — surrounded by players from both teams — as a banner was raised to the rafters of Nationwide Arena in honor of Johnny. 

Columbus and Florida had one final salute to Johnny as the Blue Jackets sent just four players on the ice for the opening faceoff — leaving the left wing spot open for their No. 13. Sean Monahan, one of Johnny’s closest friends, took the opening draw and passed the puck over to Panthers forward Sam Bennett — who was teammates with Monahan and Gaudreau for six seasons in Calgary. Bennett passed the puck to the empty left wing spot for his former teammate as the two teams let the clock run down for 13 seconds before play was stopped. 

For everyone involved, Tuesday’s hockey game was rightfully not the story, paying tribute to two young men who tragically lost their lives was. 

“The game’s going to start when the puck drops and hockey will take over.” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said pregame. “I think the first part is clearly the most important part of the event tonight.”

Before the game, every Panthers player entered the arena with a purple gatorade and a bag of skittles. Sam Bennett said that the idea was Matthew Tkachuk’s, because “Johnny loved skittles and purple gatorade.” 

Tkachuk wasn’t in Columbus as he is back in Florida with an illness, but the Panthers’ star forward sent out a message ahead of Tuesday’s game:

“Johnny was a huge part of the hockey community but to me he was much more than that. A great friend, teammate, and family man. Not a day goes by without me thinking about Johnny and Matthew.”

“The biggest thing I’m going  to miss about tonight is not being able to see Meredith, Noa, little Johnny, Guy and Jane. Would love to give them all big hugs! Johnny will forever be my teammate.”

FORT LAUDERDALE — The bell rang for the first day of classes in South Florida on Wednesday as the Florida Panthers’ school of hockey welcomed its students for the 2024-25 season. The first day of classes being media day and the students being the Panthers’ players.

The defending Stanley Cup champions put on their jerseys for the first time this season as they get prepared for the upcoming season and plenty of familiar faces returned to the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale — 17 being from last season’s Stanley Cup winning team.

Training camp starts on Thursday, which means the summer of fun is over. Excitement wouldn’t be the way to describe head coach Paul Maurice’s infamous preseason skates, but the Panthers are ready to get back to work for its title defense. 

Here’s three takeaways from media day. 

Schmidt excited for fresh start, reunion with Paul Maurice

The Panthers’ defense will have two open spots in the top-six with the offseason departures of Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. 

With little money to spare, Panthers GM Bill Zito went to work as he searched for viable replacements on his Stanley Cup winning blueline. His specialty since arriving in South Florida four years ago has been taking fliers on low-cost, under the radar players and turning them into important roster pieces. 

The Panthers hope 12-year NHL veteran Nate Schmidt will be its next success story.

Schmidt, 33, has provided his services to four organizations — most recently for the Winnipeg Jets — where he had Paul Maurice as his head coach for part of the 2021-22 season. When the opportunity came to reunite with Maurice in Florida, Schmidt couldn’t pass it up. 

“It was a pretty quick decision on my part. I was going through the free agency process and had this place highlighted as somewhere that I really wanted to go and hopefully it would work out,” Schmidt said. “I’m pretty blessed to be here and given how things have gone with Paul and myself — it felt so reenergized when I had him my first year in Winnipeg — just  his style and how he treats players. Understanding what you need to do for him to get the most out of you and the most out of your group.

As for his excitement to join the Panthers d-corps, Schmidt had high-praise for Forsling, one of Bill Zito’s greatest acquisitions. 

“Don’t tell goose but he’s one of my favorite defensemen to watch,” Schmidt said of the Panthers’ star defenseman. “I ran a camp this summer and I was teaching kids how to serve up and use their sticks, and about thirty of the hundred clips were him.”

Reinhart enjoys day with cup, talks extension

Sam Reinhart shouldn’t have to buy a drink in South Florida for the rest of his life — that’s perk you get if you score the game winning goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. 

Just a few days after burying the biggest goal of his life and biggest in Panthers’ history, the 28-year-old signed a max term extension — keeping him in Sunrise for the next eight years.

“As a player there’s a lot of boxes you try and tick off. Florida for me just happened to be at the top of each category,” Reinhart said when asked about re-signing with the Panthers. “First and foremost being my life, where I wanted to essentially start a family and live, Florida being at the top of the list. We’ve loved it here, we loved our three years here and really (didn’t) see ourselves wanting to go anywhere else.” 

Having your name on the greatest trophy in sports is something that all hockey players dream of, but only so many can actually say they did it.

A cool ‘tradition’ the NHL started in 2023 after the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup was engraving the winning team’s names on the Cup before the players had their day with it. The Panthers’ players were afforded that opportunity this year as well.

“To see the name on there was very cool. For my whole family,” Reinhart said,” Being in a hockey family my dad had been there, he had lost it in the finals. Both my brothers have played, haven’t quite reached it, so to be there as a family and see ‘Reinhart’ on there was pretty cool to experience that with them all.”

Barkov reflects on summer in Finland

In June, Panthers’ star Aleksander Barkov became the first captain from Finland to win the Stanley Cup and he had quite the summer after. Being named to team Finland for the 2025 NHL 4 Nations’ Face-Off, selling out an arena in his hometown for his day with the Cup and then taking the trophy with him into a sauna was just part of his entertaining but short offseason.  

Hailing from Tampere, a city of just under 350,000 that sits two hours north of the Finnish capital Helsinki, Barkov was and still is a star when he returned home as a champion. He spent some of his media availability on Wednesday reflecting on everything that transpired this summer.   

“It was a special and amazing moment for me. Forever thankful, grateful for that city, the city of Tampere, to be that kind and letting me celebrate that big moment of my life,” Barkov said. “Having the chance to take the Stanley Cup from place to other place and obviously the big celebration at the arena with all my teammates from Finland and the coach [Panthers assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu]. Not enough words to say how special that moment was for me.”

The Panthers will head to ‘Barkov city’ in November for the NHL Global series, where they’ll play two games against the Dallas Stars at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland. 

“It means alot as well to go there in two months and play two games there,” Barkov said.

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