A little less than 16 months ago, the question surrounding the National Hockey League was whether or not the Florida Panthers were on the fast track to becoming the sport's next dynasty.
They had just vanquished the Edmonton Oilers for the second year in a row to capture back-to-back Stanley Cups, and many fans were wondering if they had a chance to become the first team to three-peat since the New York Islanders won four straight from 1980-83.
Then the injuries started to pile up, beginning right as the Cup celebration ended with star winger Matthew Tkachuk needing adductor surgery.
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Tkachuk would be out for the first half of the season, but his injury was only the tip of the iceberg.
The Panthers famously lost captain Aleksander Barkov for the year thanks to a torn ACL, and other key contributors like sniper Sam Reinhart, defender Seth Jones, and two-way wizard Anton Lundell also missed multiple weeks in the season with a bevy of injuries.
2026 was supposed to be the bounceback year for the Cats, as Barkov and the rest of his merry band of champions were thought to be fully healthy.
Then, just two games into the season, the Panthers captain went down awkwardly in an eerily similar fashion to his ACL injury a little more than a year earlier, causing Florida fans to wince.
Barkov was given a supremely positive diagnosis relative to what the news could have been — a 6-8 week recovery period — but before Panthers fans could even finish their sighs of relief, another integral piece to their 2025 Cup run went down in a heap.
When it rains it pours, and Florida losing Brad Marchand for any stretch of time is less than ideal.
The 38-year-old forward defied Father Time during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring 10 goals and 10 assists in 23 postseason games, but this latest injury could be one that keeps him out for a while.
Marchand was already recovering from an injury at the end of last season, and the fears are this could be serious given the fact he was unable to put any weight on his leg as he was helped off the ice Wednesday night (the most likely outcome seems to be an MCL injury).
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This rash of injuries over the past year plus has fans wondering whether the Panthers sold their souls for those back-to-back Cups.
Fellow OutKick writer and hockey fanatic Matt Reigle even asked me if there were any electrical substations located near Amarant Bank Arena.
While I'm not sure about that, I have opined for quite some time now that the Cats may be cursed, and the Marchy injury isn't exactly helping to assuage those concerns.
If you're a Panthers fan looking for a positive, then consider the fact that the Barkov injury wasn't as bad as initially feared, and there is a world where Marchand gets a similar diagnosis.
The Cats also went out and acquired Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk to help bolster the depth on the roster as well, so if anyone can withstand the injury bug early in the season, it's Florida.
Also, we are only four games into the year, but the Panthers are leading the division even without their captain and their playoff ace.
The sky may not be falling in Sunrise, FL, but there is still plenty of reason to have one foot inside the doomsday bunker for the time being.