Panthers Recall Tobias Bjornfot, Mikulas Hovorka

The Florida Panthers need more depth with two additional defensemen out with injury. According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, the Panthers have recalled Tobias Björnfot and Mikulas Hovorka from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Florida later confirmed the transaction.

It’s expected that both defensemen will be in the lineup tomorrow against the Boston Bruins. In the same report, Richards shared that Aaron Ekblad, who is dealing with a hand injury after blocking a shot, and Dmitry Kulikov, who took a puck off the face, are both being held out.

That will leave Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling as the only two defensemen who played on opening night this season to be in Florida’s lineup tomorrow. That’s without factoring in the multiple injuries to the forward corps, as the Panthers are also expected to be without Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, Jonah Gadjovich, Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart, and Anton Lundell.

It’s been the overarching theme of the 2025-26 season for Florida. Injuries have prevented the Panthers from achieving any success this year and will also prevent the team from defending their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.

At any rate, it allows a pair of defensemen who haven’t played much for the team this season. Björnfot, 24, has scored two goals and one assist in 11 games for the Panthers this season, averaging 11:33 of ice time per night. Meanwhile, Hovorka, 24, has only one game of NHL experience under his belt, skating for 11:27 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on February 5th.