With Matthew Tkachuk's injury uncertainty, how should the Panthers manage the cap implications?

Even before the new LTIR rules start, the Panthers have some difficult decisions to make... eventually.

More and more, it seems like Matthew Tkachuk will miss at least some time due to the injuries he suffered during the Four Nations Faceoff and played through during the playoffs. Multiple reports now suggest that Tkachuk will at miss at least some time at the start of the season, perhaps significant time. The Panthers are no strangers to using LTIR and they’re going to have to again, at least in the short term. But Tkachuk isn’t going to miss the whole season and when he’s back, they’ll still have to get under the cap and that won’t be easy.

On the newest Pucks and Palms Podcast, Hart Levine of PuckPedia talked about how the Panthers might attack this problem, and how the possible solutions are not what you might think or expect.