Alan Greenberg, FHN Sr. Writer
Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito has this season’s roster pretty much set but he could be losing some sleep thinking about next summer.
Of course, no one would be complaining if this season ended like the last one.
As was the case this summer, the Panthers are going to have some tough decisions to make when it comes to the salary cap.
This year, the NHL raised the cap $5.5 million to $88 million.
The Panthers would welcome a similar raise next season.
Florida not only has more expiring contracts coming, but those players have earned raises that may not fit under the cap.
It could be a similar scenario from what unfolded earlier this month.
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The hoopla from winning the Stanley Cup win had not subsided when the look of the Panthers changed.
Most of the changes were due to the salary cap.
The loss of key players is a byproduct of a winning team in the cap era.
For three consecutive years, the Panthers have gone through some significant changes.
Zito has been a magician in his ability to deploy lower-priced talent to supplement his core and be able to ice a championship-caliber team despite personnel losses each year.
It’s too early to think about next season, but Zito must have some ideas about how he will maintain his roster under the cap in 2025.
According to puckpedia.com, the Panthers have $767,000 in cap space available with 22 of the 23 roster spots filled.
Given the NHL minimum salary of $775,000, Zito has little room to maneuver.
Looking ahead to next summer, things will remain tight for the Panthers.
Even with a $5 million cap raise — and recovering $1.8 million in dead cap money from the Keith Yandle buyout and Kyle Okposo’s Stanley Cup bonus — Florida will be hard pressed to keep all its current players.
When last season began, it was a given that the team would not be able to retain Sam Reinhart, Gus Forsling, and Brandon Montour all while giving raises to Oliver-Ekman-Larsson, Kevin Stenlund, Anthony Stolarz, and Ryan Lomberg.
Florida signed Reinhart, Forsling, Dmitry Kulikov and Anton Lundell; the others found their paydays somewhere else.
Look for more of the same after the 2024-25 season, regardless of how the team finishes.
Sergei Bobrovsky, Matthew Tkachuk, Reinhart, Sasha Barkov, Lundell, and Forsling’s current contracts extend beyond 2024-25 and represent close to $49 million in cap space.
Add Spencer Knight’s $4.5 million, somewhat inflated for a backup goalie, which leaves approximately $35 million under the current cap number to fill 16 roster spots.
Next year’s expiring contracts include Aaron Ekblad, Carter Verhaeghe, and Sam Bennett.
It can be argued that Ekblad’s value has leveled recently, and his $7.5 million salary is too high.
Ekblad may take a hometown discount to stay in South Florida if his value on the open market diminishes.
Both Verhaeghe and Bennett are probably undervalued and would earn more in free agency than the Panthers can afford.
Given those parameters, whichever way you do the math, Zito will be unable to re-sign all three after this season unless they shed cap space elsewhere.
There is little room for that.
There have been rumors that Zito is shopping Ekblad although that seems unlikely.
With both Montour and Ekman-Larssen gone, Ekblad may find himself back on the top power-play unit.
Regardless, Zito will have some wiggle room if Ekblad does not re-sign with the Panthers after this season.
Sergei Bobrovsky will be entering the final season of his seven-year deal in 2025 and could be a buyout candidate to free up about $3.5 million in cap space.
Zito has proven in the past that he is not averse to pulling the trigger on controversial deals.
It may be a necessity next year.