The Florida Panthers are not expected to tender qualifying offers to center Cole Schwindt and defenseman Donovan Sebrango, according to THN.com's David Dwork.
The final day to tender qualifying offers to pending restricted free agents has come.
The deadline to do it is today at 5 p.m. ET. Tendering a qualifying offer allows the team to keep control of the player. If a qualifying offer is tendered, the team would receive compensation if the player signs elsewhere, and could match any offer.
The downside to tendering a qualifying offer to a player is that if that offer comes at a high price point, the player can simply agree to that deal.
That seems to be the case with the Florida Panthers. According to TheHockeyNews.com’s David Dwork, the Panthers aren’t expected to hand out qualifying offers to center Cole Schwindt as well as defenseman Donovan Sebrango.
Schwindt’s qualifying offer is just $866,250, but because the Panthers made a trade for Brady Tkachuk and have limited money to chase two goaltenders, tendering Schwindt might limit their moves.
Sebrango’s qualifying offer is just $850,000, but like Schwindt, the makeup of the roster will likely result in them walking into free agency as unrestricted free agents.
If the Panthers tendered Schwindt and Sebrango and both agreed to those offers, it could also result in the Panthers placing the duo on waivers and losing them for free anyway during training camp and pre-season.
The Panthers can also extend qualifying offers to Ben Steeves, Wilmer Skoog, Tobias Bjornfot, Mike Benning, Evan Nause, and Mikulas Hovorka, all of whom spent the majority of the 2025-26 season in the AHL.
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