Following Florida's Game 5 loss on Tuesday night, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters that Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad were suffering from significant injuries. Both are expected to have surgery and they may miss the start of the 2023-24 season, although it's too early to tell.
Weekes said in a tweet that Montour has been playing with a torn labrum in his shoulder, which will likely require surgery and will keep him out of action for three months. Depending on when Montour goes under the knife, he could also miss the start of the 2023-24 season.
Montour, 29, had the best season of his National Hockey League career thus far. In 80 games during the regular season, the Brantford native put up 73 points (16 goals, 57 assists), 107 penalty minutes and was a plus-nine. He went on to add 13 points in 21 playoff games.
There's a very good chance that there are other injuries on the Panthers roster that we don't know about yet or might not know about at all. With the Panthers staring down the possibility of starting next season without three key players, it's certainly worrisome as they'll look to get off to a strong start to the 2023-24 campaign and return to the Stanley Cup Final.
