George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers have done most of their roster building over the past few years — and made some trades to fill holes in net in the past two days — so the opening of the NHL Free Agency period today at noon could be pretty quiet in these parts.
That is not to say the Panthers are not going to do anything.
They will.
Just do not expect headline-grabbing signings.
Late Monday night, the Panthers got their backup goalie by bringing in Akira Schmid off the Vegas Strip.
Tuesday morning, Florida got its starter — and effectively ended the Sergei Bobrovsky Era — by sending Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist to the New Jersey Devils for Jacob Markstrom.
New FHN writer Alex Baumgartner looked at the Panthers’ salary cap situation going into today and there is some room to play around.
According to PuckPedia, the Panthers have about $4.5 million under the $104 million salary cap.
Florida needs a No. 7 defenseman (does Radko Gudas end up coming back?) plus a depth forward or two.
The Panthers also need to save $1 million in order to give Schmid a contract.
So, a little room for fun — but a not a lot of room for activities.
It’s not like the Panthers will be shopping at Dollar Tree; with their past, and a line of players willing to take less money to come play here, some higher-end talent may just be found at a discount price.
The Panthers currently have 12 NHL forwards under contract (not counting Sandis Vilmanis), seven defensemen, and a goalie (Schmid needs to sign his Vegas qualifying offer).
2026-27 FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES
AS OF JUNE 30, 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
12 Jonah Gadjovich — 29 Cole Reinhardt — 21 Garnet Hathaway
42 Gus Forsling — 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola — 3 Seth Jones
26 Uvis Balinskis — 7 Dmitry Kulikov
25 Jacob Markstrom
40 Akira Schmid (RFA)
UFA Needs: 1/2 F, 1 D
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Free Agency: Opens Today, Noon
- Panthers Development Camp: Today, 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