Tomas Nosek On Track for Panthers Debut in Finland
Florida Panthers forward Tomas Nosek could be activated off of Long-Term Injured Reserve to make his team debut on Friday.
The Florida Panthers will really be at full strength for the first time this season when they take on the Dallas Stars in the NHL’s Global Series in Finland on Friday.
Tomas Nosek could make his Panthers debut on Friday after missing the first 12 games of the season with an upper-body injury he sustained in the team’s first preseason game two months ago.
He is eligible to come off of Long-Term Injured Reserve and is on track to do so, per head coach Paul Maurice.
“Assuming he gets through the morning skate and feels good, we’ll activate him at this time,” he said, per team reporter Jameson Olive.
Nosek took part in line rushes during Thursday’s practice, skating alongside Mackie Samoskevich and A.J. Greer on the fourth line.
Jonah Gadjovich, who missed the past five games with back spasms, took part as an extra skater but has been skating with the main group ever since their trip to New York last week.
The Panthers brought in Nosek to, in part, fill the void Kevin Stenlund left on the penalty kill.
Nosek played heavy penalty kill minutes for the Boston Bruins when they had their record-breaking season in 2022-23 and has made a name for himself as a solid face-off man.
The Panthers have done a solid job filling the void left by Nosek’s injury, currently having the NHL’s fifth-best penalty kill at 87.1 percent. And that is with Selke Trophy-winning captain Aleksander Barkov missing eight of the first 11 games of the season.
Jesper Boqvist, who still has yet to be on the ice for a power play goal against through 20:32 of time-on-ice, has been a big part of that success and could be a potential partner for Nosek on the penalty kill.
This would allow Florida to cut down on Barkov and Sam Reinhart’s minutes while now having three quality forward groups with Nosek and Boqvist, and Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, who have been just as dominant to start the season.
“[Barkov and Reinhart] usually go out first becuase it’s left and right-handed centermen, but [Boqvist] has earned that. It would be lovely if we could get everybody healthy, I don’t know if that day ever comes, but you’ve got Nosek, who’s a penalty killer, that we could actually cut back on Barkov and Reinhart and they wouldn’t have to take those minutes as much because we could put good killers on the ice.”