Tomas Nosek Fits Right in With Panthers After Return From Injury

“Nose is a very responsible player and you can always count on him to be in the right spots at the right time.“

Tomas Nosek, the 32-year-old centerman from Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, has specific knowledge of this week’s opponent, The New Jersey Devils. Before he signed a one-year, one-way deal worth $1 million with the Panthers on July 1st of this year, he played for the New Jersey Devils. 

Head Coach Paul Maurice speaks about the importance of a player like Nosek: “He knows his skillset — strong on face-offs, positionally very good, knows when to finish a check, when to reach a little bit to finish a check, when not to — but his game rates are good.”

After missing the start of the season with an injury, returningt recently when the Panthers played in Finland, Nosek has already made his presence known on the ice. On top of his two points in seven games, Nosek is 57.1 percent percent in the dot, which is the 20th-highest face-off percentage in the league among players who have taken at least 40. It is the third-highest total of his career.

Nosek is also meshing well with the team and his line (which includes A.J. Greer, him, and either Mackie Samoskevich or Jonah Gadjovich), especially considering he played with Greer during his time with the Boston Bruins: “It's always good to know somebody you know like we played, we played in Boston together, and then we did pretty good there, and try to do some, do exact, same here, and either we play with Samo or Gadjo,” says Nosek. 

Nosek, being the veteran he is, also plays a vital role in taking his linemate, Mackie Samoskevich, under his wing: “Samo is a really skilled, talented player. He's fast, and it's easy to read off him. And I always try to help whatever, whoever I can, if it's a young guy or older guy,” says Nosek about Samoskevich. 

Greer and Nosek are very familiar with each other, playing on the same line together on the Boston Bruins when they had the best regular season in NHL history in 2022-23.

The chemistry they developed in that time was apparent almost immediately into Nosek’s Panthers tenure, when he kicked the puck over to Greer off the face-off early in the third period for the game-winning goal of Florida’s 4-2 win over Dallas Stars in Finland.

That was just Nosek’s second game in a Florida uniform.

“Oh, it’s amazing,” Greer said of his relationship with Nosek. “Nose is a very responsible player and you can always count on him to be in the right spots at the right time. So, playing with him is easy because you can kind of know where he’s at at any time, any moment. Just being able to play with confidence, your linemate is doing his job, you got to do yours.

“He’s a very talented player, both defensively, but offensively. I think we keep it simple together, but we’re able to create come space, create some good stuff going on. He’s a good skater and he compliments my game very well.”

The career penalty-killer had a rare moment on the other end of it earlier this season.

Nosek’s first goal as a Panther came on the power play — the first power play marker of his 10-year career — after a pass from Nate Schmidt pinballed off both of his skates and in.  \“Yeah, it took me a while, right?” Nosek said with a laugh. “But, yeah, it was good…And I'm glad we scored a goal. And that doesn't matter if we score, but it's the first power-play goal in so many games.”

Nosek’s knowledge of the game and himself as a player allows him to make a sizeable impact for the Panthers: “He is a good, smart, veteran pro,” Maurice said. “He knows his game. He knows what he’s good at. He knows that he’s not beating Carter Verhaeghe down the ice, so he’s not going to try to do that, right?”