George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers pared down their roster Wednesday, a few days before they open the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Panthers have 25 players on their current playoffs roster — including defenseman Aaron Ekblad, whose suspension carries through the first two games against the Lightning — after sending three players back to the Charlotte Checkers for their playoffs.
The three players going back to Charlotte are defenseman Matt Kiersted, as well as forwards Jesse Puljujarvi and Rasmus Asplund.
Charlotte has three games remaining in the regular season: Tonight against the Hartford Wolf Pack, then two against the Springfield Thunderbirds.
The AHL playoffs begin next week, and the Checkers currently hold a first-round bye.
Jaycob Megna, who was recalled from Charlotte on March 2 before Florida’s game in Toronto, remains with the team after playing the past eight games.
He is averaging 16:06 in those games.
PANTHERS PLAYOFF ROSTER
- Forwards (15): Sasha Barkov, Sam Bennett, Jesper Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich, A.J. Greer, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Brad Marchand, Tomas Nosek, Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe
- Defensemen (8): Uvis Balinskis, Aaron Ekblad, Gus Forsling, Seth Jones, Dmitry Kulikov, Jaycob Megna, Niko Mikkola, Nate Schmidt
- Goalies (2): Sergei Bobrovsky, Vitek Vanecek
2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND: GAME 1
FLORIDA PANTHERS at TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
- When: TBA (Likely on Sunday)
- Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- National TV: ESPN or TNT/truTV
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+ or MAX
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Series Schedule: TBA
- Season Series (Tied 2-2) — At Tampa Bay: Panthers 4, Lightning 2 (Dec. 22); Tuesday. At Florida: Lightning 4, Panthers 0 (Dec. 23); Panthers 2, Lightning 1 (March 3).
- All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 79-53-19, 10 ties
- All-Time Postgame Series: Tampa Bay Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.
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