George Richards, FHN Publisher
After a season in which the Florida Panthers had over a dozen players out of their lineup for long stretches of time, general manager Bill Zito said Friday night that everyone is expected to be ready for training camp.
We have already seen captain Sasha Barkov and Anton Lundell look to be in midseason form during their return to action in leading Finland to gold at the World Championship.
Aaron Ekblad said his broken finger is healed up, with Sam Reinhart saying the time off since leaving the Panthers’ lineup in XXX due to a foot concern has been good for him to get back to 100 percent.
Zito said Friday night that Brad Marchand, believed to have lingering hip and sports hernia problems, has not required surgery and is on track to be on the ice when Paul Maurice brings the team back together in September.
With the NHL draft wrapping up on Saturday — the Panthers added six big new prospects on Day 2 — all eyes focus on what is next.
Free agency opens Wednesday at noon, and the Panthers have only a few holes to fill.
Two of those vacancies are pretty big ones: Right now, the Panthers do not have a single goalie with NHL experience under contract.
That will change in the coming days, whether free agents Sergei Bobrovsky and/or Daniil Tarasov return, the Panthers will have goalies manning the nets come training camp.
“We have mechanisms to create cap space if we need it,’’ said Zito, whose team stands around $5.8 million under the salary cap with two goalies to sign as well as any depth free agents they may be interested.
“We have so many ‘what-if’ scenarios that it’s hard. … We can modify the available cap space readily. There’s a myriad of different transactions we could pursue.”
Florida also has to get a couple of its own players (forward Cole Schwindt and defenseman Donovan Sebrango) under contracts as restricted free agents which cuts into that $5.8 million.
“We’ll wrap that up Monday or Tuesday,’’ Zito said, “make some final decisions.’’
So, what’s next?
Zito did not say whether the Panthers will make qualifying offers to their main RFAs before Free Agency opens.
If a player is not made an offer, they become a free agent on Wednesday.
The Panthers would be a team looking to shed some salary to help their search for goalie help.
Depending on whether Sebrango and Schwindt are made offers, Florida could have only around $3 million to fill those goalie spots.
That’s not near enough to do much of anything.
So, Florida may let a couple of its own go — but will still have to unload some salary.
Evan Rodrigues has a $3 million cap hit and was rumored to be on the move since last summer when the Panthers signed their three big free agents (Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand).
Barkov being injured on the first day of his training camp and Matthew Tkachuk starting the season on LTIR saved the Panthers from having to make a difficult decision when it came to the salary cap.
By the time Tkachuk came back, other players such as Seth Jones were injured, so the Panthers did not have to make any corresponding cap moves.
It does not look like the Panthers are going to be able to put that off any more.
Florida has two players (Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen) who make $3 million and would be appealing to a number of teams if the Panthers had to wheel them off to create cap space.
Both are in the final years of their contracts; so, too, is Jesper Boqvist who has a hit of $1.5 million.
Regardless of how things work out, the Panthers will be right up against the $104 million salary cap.
Barring injuries, of course.
Here is what the Panthers could look like if training camp opened today.
On Friday night, Maurice said he plans on initially playing newcomer Brady Tkachuk on the top line with Barkov and Reinhart.
Should be fun.
2026-27 FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES
AS OF JUNE 28, 2026
8 Brady Tkachuk — 16 Sasha Barkov — 13 Sam Reinhart
23 Carter Verhaeghe — 9 Sam Bennett — 19 Matthew Tkachuk
27 Eetu Luostarinen — 15 Anton Lundell — 63 Brad Marchand
29 Cole Reinhardt — 17 Evan Rodrigues — 21 Garnet Hathaway
42 Gus Forsling — 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola — 3 Seth Jones
26 Uvis Balinskis — 7 Dmitry Kulikov
Goalie 1
Goalie 2
Bench: F Cole Schwindt (RFA), F Jesper Boqvist, D Donovan Sebrango (RFA)
Extras: F Sandis Vilmanis, F Jonah Gadjovich
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Monday-Thursday; 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