Dave Hyde: Florida Panthers, like all of us, just need a rest

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Feb 7, 2026

Published in Hockey

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They need a break.

You could use one, too.

It’s exhausting just watching the Florida Panthers play, night after night, with nearly half their team out and the other half doing their admirable best to slip into altered roles like mismatched clothes.

It was exactly half the roster out Thursday night, nine of the Florida Panthers’ 18 skaters hurt for the final game before the Olympic break against Tampa Bay. For two periods, they competed. But Tampa Bay is 19-1-1 of late. So, the best rivalry in sports predictably took hockey back to the 1970s once the Panthers fell behind 4-0.

Cheap shots. Fights. Chaos. Referees read the penalty list like medieval friars reading an endless scroll. Even Panthers coach Paul Maurice joined the mayhem in getting ejected.

“That’s nine games in 15 days, and we’ve got nine guys out of our lineup,’’ Maurice said. “We wore those guys out. Think of minutes Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and Gustav Forsling have played. They gave all they have.”

Maybe all these injuries were payback for the good fortune of the past few seasons. Maybe three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final and short, summer rests were just too much for their bodies to bear.

They played 68 playoff games over the three seasons, nearly an extra season. Throw in this maliciously compacted season to squeeze in the Olympics and the short-term strain on tissue and tendons is something for a research paper.

The practical cost is easier to see: The two-time champs can play their dominant hearts out and still fall short of the playoffs. They’re in last place in their division, eight points from the last wild-card spot with a boatload of teams to climb over.

No one is saying it’s over. Not after what this team has come back from at times and accomplished. And allow yourself a dream a moment: Wouldn’t this be a comeback for the ages? If they somehow grab the final playoff spot and play, yep, top seed Tampa Bay in the first round? Sign me up.

But this Panthers team isn’t the team of the past couple of springs. Not with Aleksander Barkov missing all season, Matthew Tkachuk out until a few weeks ago and defenseman Seth Jones out for a month. Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand are in and out of the lineup. Aaron Ekblad now, too. There are six of your top eight players.

“It’s huge for us, much needed,’’ forward Mackie Samoskevich said of the three-week Olympic break. “Some guys will get to play some more hockey, which is good for them and will be fun to watch. But it’ll be nice to get some guys back from break and go from there.”

The Panthers sending 10 players to the Olympics brings another question not just of their workload, but who’s left at home to practice. Maurice has said as few as 13 players could be left behind. That’s not enough for real practices.

“The guys will get a little rest and they’ll train hard, as they always do,’’ Maurice said of those staying behind.

For those in the games, they split into national teams now.

“There’s a fair amount of faith one of our players will come back an Olympic champion,’’ Maurice said. “We celebrate everyone’s successes here. It’ll be a positive for our team.”

That’s a piece of the good culture the Panthers have constructed. And if you get the idea Maurice is encouraging his players through all this season, they’ve earned it. They’ve won like no other team the last few years. They’ve kept the season afloat through months of injuries.

But there’s only so much a season can take. This last stretch of games where the Panthers lost four of five, including two in the final seconds, might have broken this season. We’ll see. Again, no one’s counting them out just yet.

Everyone knows what the two-time champs need, too. They know it most of all. Some of them will even get it now.

“Just some rest, that’s all this team needs,’’ Maurice said. “Just some rest.”