New

Brady Tkachuk Returns To Panthers Practice As Team Hits Road For Season-opening Trip

The Florida Panthers hit the ice for a final practice in Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning before embarking on their season-opening road trip.

It’s the first time we received a look at what could very well be head coach Paul Maurice’s Opening Night roster.

There were 21 players on the ice, including 12 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.

Among them was new Panthers forward Brady Tkachuk.

His last action came during Florida’s second preseason game on Tuesday night in Sunrise, when he played the first two periods but not the third.

Afterwards, Maurice downplayed any sort of injury, instead saying something that tightened up on Tkachuk and that he was expected back on the ice in the short term.

After sitting out a few practices, Tkachuk is good to go for Opening Night.

“He’s ready to roll,” Maurice said Monday.

Now it appears that the Cats will enter the season with only one regular player – Brad Marchand – missing from the lineup.

Marchand has been skating and working his way back from offseason surgery, with the expectation that he will be able to jump into the Panthers’ lineup sometime in November.

Florida rolling without many healthy scratches is something we’ve seen in the past from healthy Panthers squads, so it’s not terribly surprising to see the Cats apparently heading down that route again.

Here is how Maurice had the Panthers lined up during Monday’s skate:

Brady Tkachuk – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sandis Vilmanis

Boko Imama – Lars Eller – Garnet Hathaway

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones

Dmitry Kulikov – Radko Gudas

Seventh defenseman – Uvis Balinskis

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Florida Panthers Place Eight Players On NHL Waivers; Sign Nathan Bastian To NHL Contract

Brady Tkachuk Expected To Resume Skating; Panthers Coach Paul Maurice Not Worried About Season Opening Availability