The news just got worse for the Panthers…

Well, this is worse than expected. On Wednesday, Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice confirmed that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov will miss five months after having wrist surgery.

“Had surgery this morning to repair a labral tear.”

The veteran blue liner was placed on the injured reserve list on Friday after being a injured a day earlier against the Philadelphia Flyers. He had yet to record a point in two games this season prior to going down.

This is another blow to the defending Stanley Cup champions, who are already without top players, notably captain Aleksander Barkov, forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Tomas Nosek.

Both Tkachuk and Nosek had offseason surgery and are expected to miss extended periods of time.

“Anticipate him (Tkachuk) being out until December-ish,” general manager Bill Zito said of Tkachuk at camp.

“Months, for sure,” he said of Nosek.

Barkov tore his ACL and MCL during practice two weeks ago and was ruled out for seven to nine months, effectively ending his 2025-26 campaign before it even started.

For now, the Panthers have managed to open their season with a 3-1 record and are in action tonight against the Red Wings in Detroit.