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April 11, 2026
NHL: Calgary Flames at Florida Panthers
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Florida Panthers play Toronto Saturday in their final road game of the season and go against the Maple Leafs without a grand majority of the lineup they originally hoped to finish with.

The Panthers and Leafs played in the second round of the playoffs last year but, Saturday’s game will be without some big names on both ends of the ice.

For Florida, the salary off the ice swamps what it will put on it for what Hockey Night in Canada figured would be must-see-TV when the season began.


The Panthers are currently missing five of the six defensemen who played on Opening Night — a number which includes Jeff Petry who was traded at the deadline to Minnesota.

Counting Petry, the Panthers are still down five of seven when Uvis Balinskis, a healthy scratch for Game 1, is factored in.

The Panthers came into the year up against the NHL’s $95.5 million salary cap yet that is not a problem they have to navigate around any more.

With the likes of Sasha Barkov, Seth Jones, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand out for the season, the Panthers are no where near the salary cap ceiling these days.

But how much salary is on the shelf?

The 11 players who are out — all, with three games left — for the rest of the season account for $50.275 million.

When you add in Matthew Tkachuk, who is out on paternity leave, that number rises to $59.775 million.

That is 63 percent of the salary cap.

As for who will play on Saturday, the lineup adds up to $47.483 million with Sergei Bobrovsky (who is not expected to start against the Leafs) accounting for $10 million of that.

The salary cap floor this season is $70.6 million, a number the Panthers easily cleared when whole.

In fact, had the Panthers remained healthy from the start of the season, they would have been forced to shed salary to be cap compliant.

Tkachuk missing the first few months of the season and Barkov getting hurt on his first day of training camp kept the Panthers from making some really tough decisions.

Florida could have as many as four players making over $5 million per season — that’s counting Bobrovsky — on the ice Saturday.

The Panthers also may line up against the Leafs with 14 players making less than $1 million annually — and that’s on paper.

Those are their full-season NHL salaries, not what they are getting pro-rated upon being called up to the NHL.

Florida’s highest-paid players come Saturday (not counting Bobrovsky) are Sam Bennett ($8 million), Carter Verhaeghe ($7m), Gus Forsling ($5.75m), Eetu Luostarinen ($3m), Jesper Boqvist ($1.5m), and likely starting goalie Daniil Tarasov ($1.05m).

Update: The Panthers will not have Bennett nor Verhaeghe in the lineup against the Maple Leafs.

That brings the Panthers to $74.775 million of missing salary — or 78 percent of the salary cap.

With Bobrovsky on the bench that number is $85.775 million.

Five of Florida’s six defensemen in Thursday’s 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators either played in the AHL this season and are on two-way contracts, or, in Donovan Sebrango’s case, was claimed off waivers before going down to the minors.

Forsling is Florida’s highest-paid active defenseman by a long shot.

He makes $5.75 million.

The other five? A combined $4.045 million.

Again, that’s a cap hit number and not their actual salary.

Toby Bjornfot, for instance, had a cap hit of $775,000 but would have been paid $450,000 if he remained in the AHL all season. He gets a pro-rated NHL salary for every day he is up with the Panthers.

Sebrango has been in the NHL all season so he will see all of his $775,000 salary this season.

Toronto, also long out of the playoffs like the Panthers, are facing major injury issues of its own.

The Maple Leafs are trying to hold on to their first-round pick (like the Panthers), so losing isn’t that big of a deal as the season comes to a close.

Toronto has to give its first-rounder to the Boston Bruins if it is not in the top 5; Florida gives its first-round pick to Chicago if it is not in the top 10.

Both seem fairly safe.

As far as the Maple Leafs salary goes, per PuckPedia, Toronto is currently $32 million under the cap with almost $27 million on the shelf.

Those players include star Auston Matthews ($13.25m), Chris Tanev ($4.5m), Brandon Carlo ($3.485m), Dakota Joshua ($3.25m), and Anthony Stolarz ($2.5m).

ON DECK: GAME No. 80

FLORIDA PANTHERS at TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

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