Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice has announced that center Nick Cousins will return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Cousins, 30, had been out of the lineup since January 2nd after getting a concussion during a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes. He’s missed the past 12 games with the injury, with the Panthers going 8-2-2 in that span.
Based on the lines during the Panthers’ practice on Tuesday morning, Cousins is set to be on the third line alongside his usual linemates in Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell. This trio has been the most common line combination featuring Cousins this season, but have been outscored 5-2 with a 45.55% 5v5 expected goal share when together in 145:18 of ice time.
Cousins has been having one of his worst seasons from a production perspective, with just 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in 37 games this season. That puts him on pace for just nine points if he plays out the rest of the season, which would be his lowest point total since his debut season in 2014-15 where he was held pointless in 11 games.
Cousins has been one of the more disciplined players in recent seasons, particularly with drawing penalties, as his 0.099 penalty goals above replacement per 60 minutes since 2021-22 is tied for 32nd in the league among forwards with at least 2000 penalty minutes.
Cousins was a former third-round pick of the Flyers in the 2011 NHL Draft, and he spent three seasons in Philadelphia before he was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes in 2017, where he spent another two seasons before the Coyotes opted to not give him a qualifying offer. He signed with the Montreal Canadiens in 2019 and was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights at trade deadline that season before the Golden Knights also opted to not give him a qualifying offer. He then spent two seasons with the Nashville Predators before signing with the Panthers in 2022.
Cousins is currently in the final year of a two-year contract with a $1.1 million cap hit, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason.
The Panthers will look to build on their four-game winning streak heading into the All-Star break when they host the Flyers on Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST. They currently sit in second in the Atlantic Division with a 31-14-4 record.
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