Panthers Pulse: Tomas Nosek Goes From Former Playoff Foe to Potential Key Penalty-Killer

After a heated run-in with the Florida Panthers in the 2023 playoffs, Tomas Nosek is ready to put that behind him and become a key piece to Florida's new-look fourth line and penalty kill.

Photo courtesy of ESPN

Leading up to the beginning of training camp, Pucks and Palms will be previewing each of the key pieces of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in a series called ‘Panthers Pulse’ heading into the 2024-25 season. Tomas Nosek is next.

2023-24 Stats: two goals, six points, 36 GP (New Jersey Devils)

The Florida Panthers are very familiar with Tomas Nosek.

During the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Nosek and Matthew Tkachuk got involved in a heated argument on their respective benches with ESPN’s Ray Ferraro caught in the crossfire on a live microphone after Nosek threw a high hit on Eric Stall in Game 2 of Florida’s first-round matchup with the Boston Bruins.

Two years later, all has since been forgiven, and even in Nosek’s case, forgotten about.

“I am not the first or the last person to have some discussions between the benches or whatever,’’ Nosek said when he first met with the South Florida media over Zoom. “It’s part of hockey. There are no hard feelings at all. I had not even thought about it before you asked about it. I don’t think it will be a problem.’’

And hey, there was a reason why Nosek had gotten the attention of Tkachuk that night — and the Panthers two years later as they opened free agency looking to rebuild their fourth line.

With the Bruins that season — one where they finished with the best regular season record in NHL history — Nosek racked up seven points and 18 points in 66 games, throwing 69 hits, blocking 31 shots, and playing the second-most shorthanded minutes per game on the team. His face-off percentage of 59.3 percent was also second on the team behind only Patrice Bergeron among those who regularly played center.

(Funnily enough, fellow 2024 Panthers offseason acquisition A.J. Greer had the best face-off percentage on that Bruins team, winning two of three face-offs he took that season to total 66.7 percent.)

Nosek is a hard-forechecking forward who can kill penalties and play a responsible game in the defensive zone.

That was exactly what the Panthers were looking for when Kevin Stenlund and Ryan Lomberg inked contracts elsewhere on Day 1 of free agency.

Nosek is capable of playing at center and on the wing — switching between the two positions throughout his 36-game campaign with the New Jersey Devils last year. His season was cut short due to a foot injury he sustained in December and returned from in February.

He is all healed up and ready to go for the Panthers.

Nosek also adds a lot of playoff experience, which a contending team like Florida cannot have enough of.

The 6-foot-3 forward has made multiple deep playoff runs with the Vegas Golden Knights, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final during the team’s inaugural season in 2018. He stayed there from the franchise’s inception until 2021 when he signed as a free agent with the Bruins.

Vegas went on to win the Stanley Cup — against the Panthers — two years later.

Nosek hopes his 52 games of playoff experience can help Florida on its quest for back-to-back titles.

Up Next in Panthers Pulse: Aaron Ekblad

Previously: Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis, Anton Lundell, Sergei Bobrovsky, Spencer Knight, Aleksander Barkov, Adam Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola, Nate Schmidt, Tobias Bjornfot, Mackie Samoskevich, Jonah Gadjovich, Carter Verhaeghe