Alex Baumgartner FHN Writer
The NHL Free Agency period opens Wednesday at noon, and by Tuesday, the Florida Panthers danced around the salary cap and did the last of their heavy lifting this offseason with a pair of trades that brought in their new goalie tandem.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Panthers will enter free agency with roughly $4.5 million of cap space according to PuckPedia.
Most of the team is already locked up, but the Panthers still have some work to do as they try to finalize their roster within the $104 million cap limit.
When asked about the salary cap on Saturday, general manager Bill Zito smiled when he said the Panthers will use as much of that cap space as they can.
After seemingly being priced out on bringing Sergei Bobrovsky back to Sunrise, the Panthers pivoted their plan in goal, acquiring 36-year-old goaltender Jacob Markstrom — and depth forward Angus Crookshank — in Tuesday’s trade with the New Jersey Devils.
Florida gave up Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and prospect Ben Steeves.
Monday night, Florida traded for 26-year-old backup Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2028 third-round pick.
Trading Rodrigues ($3.075 million cap hit) and Boqvist ($1.5 million) cleared about $4.5 million off of Florida’s books, allowing them to add the pricier Markstrom, who has two years left on his contract that carries a $6 million average annual value.
In addition to Markstrom’s $6 million cap hit this season, Florida also needs to sign Schmid, who is a restricted free agent.
Florida will not — and really cannot — go over Schmid’s qualifying offer of $918,750.
Last season, the Panthers were able to sign backup Daniil Tarasov to a one-year, $1.05 million deal, which was less than his qualifying offer ($1.2 million).
Assuming Schmid signs for $918,750, this leaves Florida with just under $3.53 million to work with, barring any other trades.
Florida is also working to sign pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Radko Gudas to a new contract.
After spending the past three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks — with the last two as team captain — the Panthers reacquired Gudas, who was on the team for three seasons (2021-23) in exchange for forward A.J. Greer’s UFA rights on Monday.
The 36-year-old Gudas is coming off a 3-year, $12 million contract ($4 million AAV) with the Ducks.
If Florida were to sign him, he’d need to take a significant pay cut from the $4 million a year he was making on his last deal.
What Florida can do in the open market largely depends on if they can sign Gudas, and if they do, how much money they would have to pay him.
The Panthers already have Greer’s replacement in depth winger Garnet Hathaway, whom they acquired last week from the Flyers.
Philadelphia retained 50 percent of Hathaway’s contract, which had one year remaining at $2.4 million, bringing down his cap hit with the Panthers to $1.2 million.
Including Hathaway, Florida can deploy Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Reinhardt on its fourth-line wings.
However, now that Boqvist and Rodrigues are gone, and Tomas Nosek is a free agent, the Panthers will need to use whatever remaining cap they have on acquiring at the very least one fourth-line center.
It’s important to note that teams are able to exceed the salary cap limit by 10 percent in the offseason, but need to be cap compliant by the start of the season.
So, Florida has a temporary cushion if they need to operate over the cap.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Free Agency: Opens Wednesday, 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