SUNRISE, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 15: Eetu Luostarinen #27 of the Florida Panthers skates with the puck against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Amerant Bank Arena on November 15, 2025 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Eliot J. Schechter via Getty Images)
The Florida Panthers are dealing with two more injuries. One is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs’ strangest yet in a season full of unexpected setbacks. Center Eetu Luostarinen is week-to-week with burns that he sustained during a barbecuing accident, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters Wednesday.
“We list him as week-to-week because we don’t have a lot of experience with this,” Maurice said, per the Miami Herald. “When he comes back, he will have to be comfortable putting the equipment back on. He was not in the hospital overnight, but he was seen by doctors.”
Luostarinen reportedly suffered the burns to his lower body after a malfunction to his gas grill.
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His off-ice injury is the second one to make headlines across the NHL in the last week, as New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes hurt his finger in what’s been reported as a “freak accident” during a team dinner Thursday. Hughes needed surgery and is expected to miss approximately eight weeks.
In addition to losing Luostarinen for the time being, the Panthers are now down another center. During the first period of Florida’s 8-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, Cole Schwindt collided with his own goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, and broke his right arm.
Schwindt will likely have surgery next week and be out for two to three months, Maurice said, according to the Herald.
The Panthers are currently in 13th place in the Eastern Conference standings with 21 points at 10-8-1. They’ve dealt with a litany of injuries this season as they try to become the first NHL team to win it all three years in a row since the New York Islanders hoisted four straight Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983.
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Right from the jump, Florida has been without its top-two forwards: Captain Alexander Barkov went down with ACL and MCL injuries in the preseason, and winger Matthew Tkachuk underwent surgery this summer, reportedly to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia that he suffered while playing for Team USA in the international 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February.
That said, The Hockey News’ David Dwork reported Wednesday that he’s heard Tkachuk has started skating and could be back in the Panthers’ lineup sometime in December.
But defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, winger Jonah Gadjovich and forward Tomas Nosek — who are coming back from upper body, upper body and knee injuries, respectively — still have months left in their recoveries, per the Associated Press.
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Maurice sees the glass as half full, though. He believes working through this adversity will benefit the Panthers when it matters most.
“We’re going to have, slightly after the trade deadline, the biggest movement in the league,” Maurice said, according to the AP. “We’re going to get some players back. We can be a better team than we were going into the playoffs last year, if we can learn how to do this.
“It’s just going to be hard. It’s going to be uncomfortable right now. And we’ve got to be good with that.”
