The Florida Panthers failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons.
Florida (37-36-3) was eliminated from playoff contention with a 9-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The Panthers had qualified every season since 2018-19, including trips to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past three. They lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in 2023 before defeating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in 2024 to win the Cup for the first time, then repeated with a six-game series win against the Oilers last season.
Here’s a look at what happened in the 2025-26 season for the Panthers and why things could be better next season.
The skinny
Potential unrestricted free agents: Sergei Bobrovsky, G; Daniil Tarasov, G; A.J. Greer, F; Vinnie Hinostroza, F; Tomas Nosek, F; Luke Kunin, F; Noah Gregor, F
Potential restricted free agents: Mackie Samoskevich, F; Donovan Sebrango, D; Mike Benning, D
Potential 2026 Draft picks: 6
What went wrong
Barkov (and others) injured: It all started when Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov injured his right knee in training camp, necessitating surgery on his ACL and MCL and keeping him out for the season. Losing Barkov alone would have been tremendously damaging for Florida, but he was far from its only injured key player this season. Matthew Tkachuk missed the first 47 games of the season after offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor and sports hernia. Others who missed significant time included Seth Jones, Tomas Nosek, Dmitry Kulikov and Jonah Gadjovich, plus injuries to Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell. But it all starts with Barkov, who is the heart and soul and defensive conscience of the Panthers, and whose presence was greatly missed. “It’s a factor,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m not at that point that I’m going to say it’s an excuse because you always think you can change your grip the right way, change your focus so that you can stay in it. … We’ll look back at the end of the year and make an honest assessment, but we’re going to be over 500-man games (lost), and that’s pretty hard to sustain.”
Goaltending struggles: Bobrovsky, a key cog in the Panthers’ machine the previous two seasons, has a 3.05 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage in 51 games (50 starts), marking only the second time in his 16-season NHL career in which he’s had a save percentage under .900 after putting up an .899 in his second season in 2011-12. Bobrovsky will be 38 on Sept. 20. Florida general manager Bill Zito does not appear to believe the downturn in Bobrovsky’s play is permanent -- citing his heavy workload over the past few seasons – but it was certainly a factor in the disappointing results this season.
Sheer exhaustion: Over the three seasons prior to 2025-26, the Panthers played 314 games, the most of any team in a three-year span in NHL history, besting the Dallas Stars (1997-2000) and Detroit Red Wings (2006-2009), who each played 309. That is an astounding number of games for any team to play, with trips to three consecutive trips to the Cup Final (and that doesn’t even include events like the 4 Nations Face-Off last season, in which a number of Panthers participated, plus the 2026 Winter Olympics this season). It’s a mental and physical strain, and, at some point, it was bound to catch up to the players, especially in the form of injuries and mental exhaustion.
Reason for optimism
Injuries heal: The Panthers are set up extremely well for the future, with their core locked up, outside of Bobrovsky, who Zito has expressed interest in re-signing in the offseason. That means the likes of Barkov, Tkachuk, Reinhart, Marchand and Lundell should be back and healthy at the start of next season. As Maurice said, “You get Barkov back on the ice and practicing now and there’s a lot of guys like, ‘OK, that guy is not bad.’ I think we will and the players will rebound from this year because we look at the group coming back and say, ‘OK, we think we’re still in our prime here.’” Almost all of the key players who have spent time out of the lineup this season are locked up for next season and beyond, so Florida has an excellent base for 2026-27.
Draft pick coming, maybe: There is a chance the Panthers do not have a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, after having sent theirs to the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1, 2025, a trade that helped Florida win the Stanley Cup last season. But there’s also a chance the Panthers have high selection; that pick, which was sent along with goalie Spencer Knight for Jones and a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft, is top-10 protected, which didn’t figure to matter for a team that’s won the Stanley Cup the past two seasons. But with the Panthers holding the fifth-worst record in the NHL, Florida has an opportunity to get an excellent prospect ahead of what could be a bounce-back season.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder: It might be hard not to get complacent after three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final and back-to-back championships. But missing the playoffs entirely? That’s got to put the hunger back in the Panthers, and a hungry Panthers team is a dangerous one. It’s a group that already knows what it takes to win, so once it rests and resets, it’s a good bet Florida will be eager to return to the playoffs and do everything required to get back there. Once there, no one can count the Panthers out.
