George Richards, FHN Publisher
A year ago, the Florida Panthers continued pushing all of their chips into the middle of their Stanley Cup championship table by signing three of their pending free agents to long-term contracts.
To be honest, the eight years given out to Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad — and six to Brad Marchand — probably are not going to age very well.
And the Panthers really do not care.
Those contracts look great right now, and that is all the Panthers care about.
On Sunday, the Panthers went deeper into their quest for more championships by trading three first-round draft picks (one was acquired earlier in the day for up-and-coming forward Mackie Samoskevich) to Ottawa for Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.
Florida, as of lunchtime Sunday, had two first-round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft which opens Friday night in Buffalo.
By dinner, the Panthers do not have a first-round pick until 2030.
And 2030 is certainly a significant year in the roster building of the Panthers.
While the 2029 first-rounder Florida sent to Ottawa is top-10 protected (we saw how that worked out with the Chicago pick this year), the Panthers have their sights sent on being a Stanley Cup contender for at least the next four years.
Florida has 11 players all signed through the 2029-30 NHL season with players such as Sam Reinhart, Bennett, Gus Forsling, Ekblad, Marchand, and others going longer than that.
One has to think Brady Tkachuk will make it 12 sometime next summer when he is eligible for an extension.
In 2030, the Panthers could potentially see captain Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Anton Lundell, and Seth Jones all become free agents.
They all probably will not; but it will be interesting to see what happens moving forward.
The Panthers have not had a first-round pick in the draft since they took Samoskevich with the 25th overall selection in 2021. That pick was made with rumors swirling that the team was trading for Reinhart.
Florida did complete that trade, sending the Buffalo Sabres its first selection in the 2022 draft.
Since then, Florida has traded first-round picks to Philadelphia (Claude Giroux), Montreal (Ben Chiarot), Calgary (M.Tkachuk), Chicago (Jones), Boston (Marchand), and now Ottawa.
It is a bold plan, one that has helped the team make it to the Stanley Cup Final three times and hoist that big silver mug twice.
Now, Brady Tkachuk will try and get in on that action.
Aside from the Giroux/Chiarot deadline deals of 2022, Bill Zito has not simply traded away future draft capital for rentals.
Reinhart came to town with an agreement he would sign a new deal with the Panthers; Tkachuk technically signed his eight-year contract with the Flames in the first sign-and-trade in NHL history.
Jones was locked down long term.
Marchand was a gamble, but originally, Boston was getting a second round pick. It only became a first when Marchand fulfilled a stipulation that he played in half of Florida’s playoff games and that the Panthers made it to the conference finals.
He did; they did. Then he signed for six years.
Worked out well.
This trade should work out well, too.
In Brady Tkachuk, the Panthers are getting a high-end offensive player with plenty of snarl.
The two Tkachuk boys are the only players in the NHL since 2019 who have 400 points and 500 penalty minutes.
Both players are loved by their teammates — and hated by the opposition.
Putting them both on a line with Bennett will be must-see-TV.
With this blockbuster done, now attention turns back to the net.
What will the Panthers do for a goalie?
After Marchand got his contract — $31.5 million spread over six seasons for a cap hit of $5.5 million — the assumption was Sergei Bobrovsky would get something similar.
Perhaps not that amount, but term at least. The thought is, Bobrovsky wants and deserves to get paid, only the Panthers really do not have the cap space to give it to him all at once.
Now, if Bobrovsky really wants something in the neighborhood of $42 million, $6 million over seven years gets that done.
But the goalie position is different. If the Panthers think they are only going to get four good years out of Bobrovsky, you don’t want to be saddled with a No. 2 goalie making $6 million per year.
Bobrovsky, if he truly wants to come back, will have to make some concessions to do so.
The Panthers really can only pay in the neighborhood of $5-6 million for a starting goalie what with their current standing (and trades will have to be made to make that work).
Bobrovsky has already made $70 million in his time with the Panthers, a number of those years which were, well, not great.
But we think there is room to get something done here.
Acquiring Brady Tkachuk on Sunday may just have improved the odds on Bobrovsky returning to the Panthers.
Who knows.
Bill Zito, as we speak, could be on the phone with the Blues making a deal for Jordan Bennington.
When the smoke clears, Zito and the Panthers have made things work.
And you do not even have to look too far back.
When the Panthers signed Bennett to an eight-year, $64 million contract last June, few thought it was possible for the Panthers to bring back either Ekblad or Marchand — much less both of them.
As Zito pointed out last year at the press conference announcing Bennett’s new contract, there are things going on in the front office that we just do not know about.
That is by design.
Zito said he thought there was a way Florida could sign all three last year even though it did not look possible.
It all came together.
Stay tuned.
Things are getting interesting.
FLORIDA PANTHERS UNDER CONTRACT FOR 2026-27
- Forwards (12): Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Brady Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Jesper Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich, Cole Reinhardt
- Defensemen (6): Seth Jones, Aaron Ekblad, Gus Forsling, Niko Mikkola, Dmitry Kulikov, Uvis Balinskis
- Goalies (0)
- RFAs: Cole Schwindt, Donovan Sebrango
- UFAs: Sergei Bobrovsky, Daniil Tarasov, Tomas Nosek, A.J. Greer, Vinnie Hinostroza, Luke Kunin, Noah Gregor, Nolan Foote
- Traded: Mackie Samoskevich
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Draft (No picks in First Round, Six Overall): Friday-Saturday; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
- Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
- Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA