The Florida Panthers have made a couple roster moves heading into the weekend.
On Thursday night, Panthers captain Sasha Barkov was injured during the final moments of Florida’s 2-1 loss in Ottawa.
He went skates first into the boards and sustained an apparent lower-body injury, leaving the game and needing help to leave the ice.
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Friday, reports surfaced indicating that Barkov’s injury may not be as severe as some feared, and the team’s roster moves don’t conflict with that line of thinking.
The Panthers have recalled forward Patrick Giles from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, a move reflected on the NHL Media roster and the AHL Transactions log, and placed forward Tomas Nosek on Long Term Injured Reserve, according to PuckPedia.
Nosek was injured during the nightcap of Florida’s preseason-opening doubleheader against Nashville last month and has been considered week-to-week since.
Now that Nosek has been placed on LTIR, it means he must miss a minimum of 10 games and 24 days. Additionally, since he’s now on IR, Nosek’s $775,000 salary doesn’t count against the cap.
That financial move freed up enough space under the salary cap to allow Florida to call up Giles, who has the same $775,000 NHL salary as Nosek, leaving the Panthers with $420,000 in cap space, per PuckPedia.
If you’re wondering why any of this is a good sign for Barkov, it’s because if Barkov was feared to miss any extended time, he likely would’ve been the one placed on LTIR.
While we still don’t have official word from the Panthers on the severity of Barkov’s injury, it would seem to be a good sign that the team didn’t place him on LTIR and end any hope of seeing him before November.
The Panthers travel to Finland at the end of October to play a pair of games against the Dallas Stars in Barkov’s hometown of Tampere on Nov. 1 and 2.
You better believe that Barkov will want to play in those games.
Whether or not that is in the cards for Barkov is yet to be known, but placing him on LTIR would mean he would miss both, for sure, as they both fall within that 24-day window.
There will be some kind of update from Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice on Barkov’s status when he meets with the media following Florida’s morning skate in Buffalo.
We’ll see how things play out.
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