After beginning camp on the "unfit to play" list, Markus Nutivaara returned to practice today.
A full participant, the 26-year-old defenseman took part in both special teams and 5-on-5 drills, spending most of his time during the session paired with rookie Brady Keeper on the blue line.
"I felt surprisingly good," Nutivaara said. "It was fun to be on the ice again."
Picked up by the Panthers in a trade with Columbus during the offseason, Nutivaara is looking to bounce-back from a season in which he was held back by injuries. Limited to just 36 games in 2019-20, he recorded three goals and six assists during in his final tour with the Blue Jackets.
A calming presence on the back end, Nutivaara is expected to help add some more stability to Florida's defensive corps when he's ready to get back into the lineup. In fact, in each of his first four NHL seasons, the Oulu, Finland native has never owned a negative goal differential at 5-on-5.
"I commend him on getting through practice," Quenneville said of Nutivaara, a seventh-round pick (189th overall) in 2015. "I thought he did a lot of good things. I look forward to him getting comfortable and up to speed. He's got a good attitude as well. I think he's going to help us."
With opening night coming up on Sunday, Quenneville said it's unlikely that Nutivaara will be able to get back up to speed in time to suit up against the Blackhawks. That being said, today's practice was an encouraging step, and it seems unlikely that he'll be out of action for too long.
In the meantime, Nutivaara plans to work on getting his conditioning back up to where it needs to be and, after missing almost two weeks of practice, giving all parts of his game some polish.
As for the rest of the day, he's certainly earned a breather after going full speed in his return.
"I'm ready for a nap, that's for sure," Nutivaara smiled.
