Elliotte Friedman makes bold prediction regarding Panthers’ playoff chances without captain Aleksander Barkov & Matthew Tkachuk

The Florida Panthers will start the 2025-26 season without two important players. The team has won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025, and is aiming for a third consecutive run, which is now looking more difficult.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is out following a knee surgery, and will miss seven to nine months. Matthew Tkachuk also had surgery, and is expected to be back in December.

However, even with these losses, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman believes Florida will still make the playoffs.

"I think those people are nuts," Friedman said on Monday, via the "32 Thoughts" podcast. "I think this team is more than good enough to make the playoffs. No problem, even without Barkov for the regular season at least, and Matthew Tkachuk for a chunk of it. It just makes no sense to me that people would think of that (Panthers missing playoffs)."

Friedman highlighted that the team has enough depth to handle the challenge. He mentioned Evan Rodrigues as someone who could play a bigger role while Tkachuk recovers.

"It probably makes Evan Rodrigues even more important," Friedman said.

Rodrigues has been a consistent 30+ point scorer in the last four seasons, and recorded 15 goals and 32 points in 2024-25. He also had 15 points in 21 playoff games.

Friedman explained that Barkov takes on heavy matchups and makes the team harder to play against. Without him, Anton Lundell could take on that role, since he is already known as "Baby Barkov."

"They still have a lot of great players," Friedman said. "I'm really interested to see if Lundell becomes the guy who takes a lot of those tough matchups. Does Lundell become Barkov-like even more than he already is? Oh, yeah, what's one of his nicknames? "Baby Barkov." That's right. So, does he embrace that even more?"

Lundell scored 17 goals and 45 points last season, and he has shown good offensive presence in his four-season NHL career.

Panthers coach labeled Aleksander Barkov’s absence a "hole"

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice acknowledged last week that Aleksander Barkov’s injury was a big loss for the team. The injury happened early in practice, leaving the team without its captain for months. He highlighted that Barkov is “the big man” and has no direct replacement in the lineup.

"There’s no hiding it, that’s a hole," Maurice said on Friday. "That’s the big man, right? He has such an important place in that locker room. There’s not a next man for "Barky’s" skates. So, we've just got to share it. It's got to spread across the room and the coaches."

The goal for Florida is to see how other leaders emerge in Barkov’s absence. Maurice wants players to take on bigger roles and stay focused, working together as a team.