The Florida Panthers miss the rest of the regular season with a gro caliber injury he sustained during the four-country showdown ahead of Matthew Tokachuk.
“Matthew is going to be out for a long time,” Panthers GM Bill Zait told reporters Monday. “I want to get him back for the playoffs.”
The Panthers have placed Tkachuk in the Long-Term Injury Reserve (LTIR). This means you can save space under the NHL salary cap. LTIR players must miss at least 10 games and 24 days.
Florida reportedly has it now $8.7 million in cap spaceand NHL teams do not need to comply with the cap during the playoffs.
So the average annual value of the contract has an average annual value of $9.5 million, and even if the Panthers add a lot of money before the NHL trading deadline on Friday, they can still be reverted back to the postseason crease.
Florida has already made a splash by buying defensive man Seth Jones from the Blackhawks on Saturday.
Tkachuk was like that Injured in Team USA against Canada on February 15th.
He sat at 12:36 the final game the US went to win before missing out on the US's next game against Sweden two days later.
He then began a rematch with Canada in the championship game, but was limited to less than seven minutes on the ice. Tkachuk hasn't played since.
Tkachuk, who led the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup victory last year, tallied 22 goals and 57 points, finishing the second-best regular season on a center-only Sam Reinhardt-only team.
The Panthers are sitting pretty solidly in a photo of the NHL playoffs, second in the Atlantic division of the Eastern Conference. It's just one point for the first place Maple Leafs, nine points above the top wildcard spot.
Florida will play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
Lightning sits three points behind the Panthers in the Atlantic division.
LTIR has Tkachuk, Panthers Recall Backup Goalkey Park Sris Dryger From Ahl Charlotte.
