George Richards, FHN Publisher
The first NHL Draft I ever covered was in 2001 at the then-new arena in Sunrise when the Florida Panthers took Stephen Weiss with the fourth-overall pick in the first round.
I was a backup writer then, taking over the beat a few years later.
The first one I covered solo was in 2005 at a ballroom inside the Westin Hotel in Ottawa for the ‘Sidney Crosby Draft.’
Florida, which was barred from getting a chance at the top pick that year, drifted all the way down to 20th where they took forward Kenndal McArdle.
There have been a good many drafts since.
Back in the good ol’/bad ol’ days of the Panthers, the draft was a big deal.
Hey, when you don’t make the playoffs, the draft is one of the offseason highlights.
And they are, almost always, a gamble.
Florida had a lot of first-round picks over the years, from Mike Matheson to Grigori Denisenko.
In 2010, once Dale Tallon took over, Florida had three picks in the draft held in Los Angeles with Erik Gudbranson, Nick Bjugstad, and Quinton Howden joining the family.
Florida also picked the likes of Jonathan Huberdeau, Sasha Barkov, and Aaron Ekblad during a run of top-3 picks from 2011-14 — all of whom made their mark with the franchise.
Times, certainly, have changed.
The 2026 NHL Draft kicks off tonight in Buffalo and, for the fifth straight year, the Panthers do not have a first-round pick.
That has not really been by design, but it has arguably been for the betterment of the franchise.
A year after Tallon took goalie Spencer Knight with the 13th overall pick in 2019 just days before signing Sergei Bobrovsky, Bill Zito had the reins and selected Anton Lundell with No. 12 in the 2020 Covid draft.
In 2021, Zito selected Mackie Samoskevich at No. 24.
The Panthers have not had a first-round pick since.
And, barring a trade to get another one, the Panthers are not scheduled to have a first-round pick until 2030.
As much as the Panthers dig their amateur scouting staff, Zito has used his first-round picks as trade currency.
Not long after taking Samoskevich, Zito traded away his 2022 first-round pick to Buffalo to get Sam Reinhart.
Later, first-round picks went to Philadelphia (Claude Giroux), Montreal (Ben Chiarot), and Calgary (Matthew Tkachuk).
Zito later traded his first-round picks to Chicago (Seth Jones) and Boston (Brad Marchand) with this year’s ninth-overall selection (which belonged to Chicago unless it fell into the top-10, which it did) to Ottawa for Brady Tkachuk.
The Panthers certainly take their drafting seriously, but when it comes to pulling off big deals to get the right pieces, they are not afraid to use their draft picks as currency.
Florida traded Samoskevich to Seattle on Sunday afternoon for the Kraken’s pick at No. 25; they then sent No. 9 and No. 25 to the Senators — plus their top-10 protected pick in 2029 — for the younger Tkachuk.
This bill may come due down the road, but Zito has certainly built a championship team off the back of mid-range draft picks which we are not sure will ever pan out.
Florida does go into this year’s draft with six picks, including two in Saturday’s second round.
Tonight, however, the Panthers will hold a draft party at the IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale despite not having a pick on opening night.
Ekblad and Reinhart — both part of the 2014 draft class, although only one was originally taken by the Panthers — will join Zito before the party in Buffalo kicks off for a roundtable discussion to talk about the team.
The draft, certainly, does not hold the importance to the Panthers as it once did.
Winning the Stanley Cup in back-to-back years will do that for a team.
Draft picks?
Who needs ‘em when you can use ‘em?
Zito transformed the Panthers roster since taking over in 2020, and has used the team’s draft capital to do so.
Lundell was a home run pick at No. 12 in 2020.
So, too, was Samoskevich in 2021.
Since then, Zito has used his draft picks to upgrade the roster and put the Panthers in contention to hang banners that now decorate the Sunrise arena in ways most fans could not have imagined back when Weiss was taken fourth overall, or when Tallon had three picks in 2010.
Not every team is built like the Panthers.
And, even though they have no first-round picks tonight, after swinging another blockbuster trade to bring Brady Tkachuk to South Florida, tonight’s draft party should be one heck of a celebration of what’s to come.
2026 NHL DRAFT
- When: Tonight, Saturday; Key Bank Center, Buffalo
- First Round: Tonight, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
- Second-Seventh Rounds: Saturday, 11 a.m. (NHL Network)
- Panthers Selections (Six Overall) — Round 1: None; Round 2 (Saturday): No. 40, No. 48; Round 3: None; Round 4: No. 98; Round 5: None; Round 6: No. 168, No. 181; Round 7: No. 217
- Free Panthers Draft Party at Fort Lauderdale IcePlex — Friday: 5 p.m. (Doors Open); 6 p.m. (Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Bill Zito); 7 p.m. (First Round)
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
- Panthers Preseason (Four Games): Starts Sept. 20 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA