Sad news for Florida Panthers: He is back

The Florida Panthers are profiting from Eetu Luostarinen’s change from wing to center. Luostarinen has a career-best start in the faceoff circle this season.

Leading up to the 2023-24 season, it was clear that the Florida Panthers would struggle with injuries at first, but things became worse in the second to final preseason game.

With Florida already missing defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, who are both recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, Panthers second line center Sam Bennett had a lower-body injury and has not returned to the ice since.

There is no set schedule for his return, but Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice suggested Bennett might be back when Florida returns to the road.

Since last season, the Panthers have had one player step into the second line center role when Sam Bennett was out (and sometimes for Florida Captain Aleksander Barkov, who also missed time last season), and that was forward Eetu Luostarinen.

Bennett returned for Game 2 of Florida’s first round against the Boston Bruins, after missing 12 games at the close of the 2022-23 season.

He scored 17 goals and 26 assists while averaging 17:05 on the ice.

But wait! There’s more.

He also attempted 132 shots on goal and had a 12.9% shooting percentage success rate.

While Luostarinen only took 46 faceoffs, winning 57% of them, his experience at center when needed, particularly in the defensive zone and on the penalty kill, proved invaluable.

Maurice believes that experience will help him get through this difficult period of injuries, as when natural centers are transferred to the wing, some players may feel out of rhythm when they return to the middle.

“That would be the unknown, the faceoffs, because once you’re not taking as many draws, you lose your rhythm,” Maurice said following Wednesday’s practice at Amerant Bank Arena. “The level of play does not surprise us, but it does make you wonder, ‘Maybe I should just leave him there,’ right? When [Bennett] returns healthy, you kick [Luostarinen] to the wing and decide, ‘No, no, no, let’s leave him on the wing.’ He is moved around due to injuries because he is the easiest individual to move, which is a good thing. He excels to the point where you want to leave him there, but an injury forces him to move somewhere else.

Luostarinen’s versatility has also helped fellow Panthers center Anton Lundell secure his job on the third line, as Florida has stuck with the same lineup down the middle through the first four games of the season.

A perfect example of Luostarinen’s worth to the Panthers occurred during last year’s postseason, when a knee injury sustained during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final prevented Eetu from competing in the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida acquired Luostarinen as part of the 2020 Trade Deadline trade that sent Vincent Trocheck to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for defender Chase Priskie and forwards Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, and Luostarinen.

Luostarinen played 44 games, largely as the third line center, in his first full season with the Panthers, which was cut short due to COVID.

Lundell, Florida’s first-round choice that year, signed his entry-level contract, and it was believed that Luostarinen would not play center on the third line.

In his debut season with the Panthers, Luostarinen usually played on a line alongside Frank Vatrano and Owen Tippett.

In his second season, Luostarinen spent the majority of his time on the ice as a fourth-line center alongside Ryan Lomberg and Patric Hornqvist, however he did fill in on the third line when injuries occurred during their Presidents’ Trophy-winning season.