
Judge grants Oklahoma LB Heinecke extra year
Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke granted an extra year of eligibility for 2026 after court ruling.
The Florida Panthers missed the playoffs this season, leading to discussions about whether it's better to miss the playoffs than to lose in the finals. Coach Paul Maurice addressed the team's struggles and injuries during a summer press conference.
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(Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS)
FORT LAUDERDALE â Theyâll be back. No one doubts that. If it was an odd and unexpected season for the Florida Panthers, it was an equally odd first day of summer for a team that missed the playoffs.
That started with Paul Maurice wearing khaki shorts and a breezy, blue shirt, as if to dress himself into a good mood â or at least try after a season when his two-time Stanley Cup champions admirably walked the gangplank.
âEight active fractures,ââ Maurice said at one point Thursday.
Thereâs the defining statistic of their season. Eight broken playersâ bones still healing. There was something deeply defining in the manner the Panthers continually committed themselves, even as injuries piled up right from the first practice when, âThe Big Man,â as Maurice calls Aleksander Barkov, was lost for the season.
But there was something equally defining in this first day off. No whining. No boo-hoo pessimism. No doubt whatâs coming next year, too.
âIâd rather miss the playoffs than lose the finals,ââ Marchand said. âTo go that far affects your next year as well. To go that deep, and you lose â at the end of the day, whatâs the difference between losing (in the final) and not making the playoffs?
âThereâs one winner and everyone else is a loser.â
Thatâs a full talk-show topic.
âIâd be more disappointed with this year if we didnât have this group going into next year that we have,ââ Marchand said. âWeâll still be on paper, one of, if not the best team in the league.â
Marchand was initially hurt in December, fought his way through January, thought he was OK in February and then had to call it a season the first week of March. Thatâs was the story of so many Panthers this year. The flip side was the likes of Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell setting career highs for minutes played trying to cover for injured teammates.
The Florida Panthers had an unexpected season with significant challenges, including injuries and performance issues.
Coach Paul Maurice mentioned that the team had 'eight active fractures' during a press conference reflecting on the season.
The discussion centers around whether it's more beneficial for the Panthers to miss the playoffs entirely rather than face the disappointment of losing in the finals.
The Panthers are expected to regroup and return stronger next season, as there is confidence in their ability to bounce back.

Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke granted an extra year of eligibility for 2026 after court ruling.
Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke granted an extra year of eligibility for 2026.

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No doubt missing the playoffs allows them to rest their bodies and minds in a manner they havenât done the previous three summers. Some already have rested enough, though.
âYes!â Barkov said when asked he was looking forward to playing for Finland in the World Championships.
Several Panthers will play in the tournament, meaning their summer vacations wonât be completely restful. The team is fine with that, too, even encouraging it as long as the players are fully healthy, general manager Bill Zito said.
Itâs Zito on stage now. Everything changed for the Panthers went he came in the door nearly six years ago. He thinks outside the rink, like Tuesday, when he said everyone repeats the clichĂ© of âTwo plus two equaling four.â
âWhy didnât you just say, âFive minus one?â â he asked.
Zito might have a top-10 draft pick, depending on how a few things break. Or he might not have one at all with it lost to Chicago. Regardless, his big decision is goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who is a free agent. Barkov spoke for the players, and fans, when saying, âEveryone in South Florida wants him back.â
Bobrovsky also is 38 in September and had a career-low .877-save percentage this season. So the heavyweight question is if he can carry this team to another Stanley Cup in the way a goalie must at times. And, if not him, then who? Or maybe bring Bobrovsky and another goalie in?
Somewhere in there is the five-minus-one answer Zito must find. Win or learn. Thatâs the mantra this team adopted from Maurice. Zito was asked what they learned this messy season. He said heâs thinking on it.
âMost of the answer, I havenât learned,ââ he said.
Maurice was asked something simpler: Was this a lost season?
âThat will depend on how we handle it,ââ Maurice said.
He noticed somewhere in March he disliked how the Panthers played. He understood why it happened with so many injured regulars and minor-league fill-ins. He also made a note to, âtake care of that in training camp,ââ he said.
The two-time champs will be healthy then. And hungry. This odd year will turn to motivational fuel by then, like water to wine. It was odd right to these first day of summerâs interviews, which werenât downcast or uncertain about the future in the manner of, say, the Miami Heat across town.
Little went right this Panthers season. But it was easy to still see why it went so right the previous two years. Maybe this seasonâs eulogy was best said by Detroit coach Todd McLellan after the Panthers won the season finale for both teams 8-1. He was furious about his teamâs effort.
âBoth teams came in with nothing on the line, and you could see their championship pedigree,ââ McLellan said. âSo, Iâm going to compliment the Panthers. That pedigree runs throughout their organization. They came and they played, and it meant something.â
Until next year.