Paul Maurice had some bad news for the Florida Panthers fans. Sure, the defending Stanley Cup Champions are cruising in the Conference Round, 2-0. And they take home ice on May 24 against the Carolina Hurricanes, but Sam Reinhart won’t be there to battle it out. The Panthers coach said the 29-year-old forward is ‘day-to-day’. Which actually has got the NHL skeptics typing. They ain’t taking the ‘day-to-day’ update as is. Well, it seems like history is the best teacher for some. Confused much? Relax. We are going to walk you through it.

Panther Pourri: A Florida Hockey Now Podcast retweeted the Sam Reinhart Day-to-day development with their own update: “Don’t believe anything about day to day here. Loustarinen was day to day 2 seasons ago with a damn fractured shin.” Woah, do they think the 2025 Selke Award finalist may be ruled out for a longer period?

What we definitely know is that Florida Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen missed the entire 2023 Stanley Cup Finals after the injury in game 4 of the Eastern Conference Championship round. Initially, it looked like he could make it. Talking to FloridaPanthers.com, the forward said in 2024, “We actually thought I could get back at some point in the series, but it just ended up being so much more painful that I couldn’t play through it.”

It turned out he had a broken tibia. Can you believe how it looks? The guy tried to push through a broken tibia injury as the Panthers thought it was a day-to-day scenario. It was only after failing in the practice sessions that the seriousness of the issue was revealed. But see how Eetu Luostarinen saw it. “Even if I would’ve got on the ice, it wouldn’t have been good for the team to be at less than 50%.”

But back to Sam Reinhart. Can his injury be as bad as the Luostarinen case? All we know is that the 29-year-old was hip-checked and his left leg bent in a way that was not good, to say the least. It all happened in the first period of Game 2 of the Conference Championship round. He tried to return but lasted only 12 seconds.

We really can’t say anything as of now, can we? But the Panthers would want him back and be involved in their Stanley Cup defense.

The Florida Panthers are hoping for a quick recovery for Sam Reinhart

 The way Captain Aleksander Barkov regards the setback says it all. “That guy, you can’t really replace him. He does everything,” the Panthers center said to the Miami Herald, hours before they will host the Hurricanes inside the Amerant Bank Arena. Sam Reinhart has been on song this playoffs – 4 goals and 7 assists in 14 games.

Even the Florida Panthers coach acknowledged Reinhart’s contributions. “It’s a significant player out of our lineup, for sure.” But being a Stanley Cup Winner means overcoming obstacles. “We have gone through other significant ones … you have to be able to survive. You have to have one guy go down and still have a chance — or you don’t have the depth that you think you have.”

That’s true. But when you play the Stanley Cup playoffs, you will want your best guys available. Against the Dallas Stars or the Edmonton Oilers, the Panthers will need all hands on deck. That is, we are assuming the Panthers will negotiate the Hurricanes challenge without any fuss. Although they have taken the Sam Reinhart hit. What if another player gets sidelined?

The stakes are as big as they get. The Sam Reinhart setback is not looking as bad right now. But he was their highest point-scorer in the regular season with 81 points. He is a threat that the Florida Panthers will want the opponents to be worried about. That won’t be possible if the forward gets injured.