Florida Panthers Place Matthew Tkachuk on Long-Term Injured Reserve

The Florida Panthers placed star forward Matthew Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve, per PuckPedia.

The Florida Panthers placed star forward Matthew Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve on Sunday morning.

Tkachuk has been out of the lineup with an apparent groin injury he sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Florida needed to clear cap space for a goaltender after trading for Seth Jones on Saturday night. They sat at the cap ceiling without a back-up goaltender on the roster.

Per PuckPedia, the Panthers now have $8.7 million in cap space to work with after placing Tkachuk on LTIR and calling up Chris Driedger from AHL Charlotte to serve as Sergei Bobrovsky’s back-up.

Tkachuk could still return during the regular season if the Panthers do not make another move at the deadline. All they would have to do is drop one player who holds an annual cap hit of at least $800,000 from their roster via waivers or trade to become cap compliant.

But the Panthers will have a chance to make potential upgrades to their forward group or in the back-up goaltender department if Tkachuk remains out of the lineup until the start of the playoffs.

Players on long-term injured reserve are eligible to return during the postseason regardless of their team’s salary cap situation.

This is a developing story which will be updated when more information becomes available.