With Barkov Hurt, Florida Panthers Make Roster Moves

The Florida Panthers made two roster moves on Friday after captain Sasha Barkov was hurt late in Thursday’s loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Barkov, who is reportedly not expected to miss too much time, slammed skates-first into the end boards after chasing down a puck headed to an empty net.

Playing without a stick after breaking it in the Florida offensive zone, Barkov slid toward to the net in an attempt to stop Tim Stutzle from scoring.

Barkov ended up going full-speed into the boards and had to be helped off the ice by teammates Evan Rodrigues and Uvis Balinskis.

With Barkov expected to miss tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, Florida had to make some moves to stay salary cap compliant.

The Panthers did not hold a practice on Friday; Florida coach Paul Maurice is expected to update Barkov’s injury status today in Buffalo.

In order to call up rookie Patrick Giles, Florida placed center Tomas Nosek on Long-Term Injured Reserve.

Nosek, out since his second shift of the preseason, started the season on regular IR which meant his $775,000 annual salary still counted against the cap.

By moving Nosek to LTIR, Florida is temporarily able to go over the salary cap and bring in another player — which, in this case, is Giles.

Florida would place Nosek on LTIR retroactively as he has missed two of the 10 games he needs to satisfy that designation before he can return.

Giles had a strong training camp and was thought to have made the team’s opening night roster — only the Panthers were up against the salary cap and opened with 22 players instead of the league maximum 23.

Florida was down to 21 players after sending MacKenzie Entwistle to the minors on Wednesday.

Giles, 24, will likely make his NHL debut tonight in Buffalo.

At 6-4 and 220 pounds, Giles is a physical player who impressed the Panthers by coming into camp much faster than they had seen in the past.

“He has had a good camp and he his statistics are not as important as the improvement he has had year-over-year,” Maurice said during training camp.

“The guy comes in, and he is considerable faster than he was last year. He has good hands around the net for a big guy.

“He is making a case for himself. He has done what he needs to do in this camp and has moved himself up the depth chart.”

With Barkov out for the time being, Maurice is going to have to change around his forward lines significantly.

Although Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk should stay together — perhaps with Carter Verhaeghe — the rest of the lineup will be interesting to see.

And, will probably be changing on the fly.

Anton Lundell could move up to play with Sam Reinhart as he had for parts of his first two seasons with the Panthers, but the question is whether Eetu Luostarinen joins them or moves over to center the third line.

Although Luostarinen has not played much at center over the past few seasons with Florida, he was a center when the Panthers acquired him in the Vincent Trocheck trade with Carolina in 2020 and he has seen some time there over the years.

Florida could line up the middle with Lundell, Bennett, Luostarinen as its top three centers and keep Jesper Boqvist remaining as center on the fourth line.

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ON DECK: GAME 3

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT BUFFALO SABRES

• When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
• Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season (Panthers Won 3-0) — At Buffalo: Panthers 4, Sabres 0 (Feb. 15). At Florida: Panthers 3, Sabres 2 (Feb. 28); Panthers 3, Sabres 2 OT (Ap.13).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 57-45-8, 4 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Monday at Boston Bruins, 1 p.m. (Local TV)