From blockbuster goalie trades to long-term extensions, Bill Zito fueled a wild free agency frenzy to fortify depth and prepare Florida for another deep postseason run.
It’s been quite a couple days for the Florida Panthers.
As the calendar flipped from June to July and a new league year began, the Panthers kept very busy both signing and trading for new additions to the franchise.
Over the past several days, Florida seemed to get progressively busier, culminating in a wild July 1 that saw them make nearly a dozen moves to fortify their roster for what the team expects to be a return to Stanley Cup contention.
The fun started on Monday, when Florida traded the rights of A.J. Greer to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange to the rights of defenseman Radko Gudas, both of whom were set to hit free agency two days later.
Later that night, the Panthers picked up their first goaltender, acquiring Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2028 third-round pick.
It was maybe 12 hours later that Florida completed their goaltending tandem, trading for former Cats tendie Jacob Markstrom, along with forward Angus Crookshank, and sending Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves to the New Jersey Devils.
That leads us to Wednesday, the first of July and the start of a new NHL league year.
To say that the Panthers were busy despite having the majority of their NHL roster being accounted for would be an understatement.
By the time the day was done, the Cats had fortified their depth at the NHL level while adding several pieces that will help their AHL squad who are also prime candidates for call-ups if and when the Panthers need it.
Here are the moves Florida made on Wednesday:
Sign forward Eetu Luostarinen to an eight-year extension
Sign forward Sandis Vilmanis to an eight-year extension
Sign defenseman Radko Gudas to a six-year contract
Sign forward Cole Schwindt to a two-year contract extension
Sign defenseman Alexander Petrovic to a two-year contract
Sign forward Lars Eller to a one-year contract
Sign defenseman Donovan Sebrango to a one-year contract extension
Sign defenseman Toby Bjornfot to a one-year, two-way contract extension
Sign forward John Beecher to a one-year, two-way contract
Sign forward Sam Lafferty to a one-year, two-way contract
Sign forward Boko Imama to a one-year, two-way contract
Sign defenseman Casey Fitzgerald to a one-year, two-way contract
There could be more moves coming, including a new contract for goaltender Akria Schmid, which Zito indicated would be coming at some point.
“I’m not anticipating real difficulty," he said when asked about Schmid on Wednesday. "I’ve spoken to him, he’s excited to be here.”
Based off their current cast of characters, here is a projected look at their forward lines and defensive pairings could break down when Opening Night arrives.
Keep in mind that an NHL roster can only carry a maximum of 23 players, so there can only be a total of three extra players (healthy scratches). We’re listing several options for those extra spots, as the final decisions will likely come down to how each player performs during training camp.
Brady Tkachuk – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jonah Gadjovich – Lars Eller – Garnet Hathaway
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Dmitry Kulikov – Radko Gudas
Jacob Markstrom
Akria Schmid
Extra forwards: Cole Reinhardt, Cole Schwindt, Sandis Vilmanis
Extra defensemen: Uvis Balinskis, Alex Petrovic
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