The Florida Panthers will use Noah Altman, a former NCAA goaltender as their emergency backup goaltender for the 2026-27 NHL season.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, each NHL team will have an emergency backup goaltender who will wear No. 00.
On Tuesday, the Florida Panthers revealed that Noah Altman will be their EBUG for the 2026-27 season.
Altman is a 6-foot-7, 26-year-old with college goaltending experience. Altman played four seasons at Quinnipiac but skated in only seven games. He last played during the 2024-25 season. Before attending Quinnipiac, Altman played for Shattuck St. Mary's, a prep school famous for producing Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Toews, and recently, Macklin Celebrini.
Previously, the EBUG served as the goaltender in the team's home arena. But under the new CBA, Altman will travel with the Panthers rather than serve as the EBUG at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers haven't officially announced Altman at the EBUG, but he's been skating with Brad Marchand and Jonah Gadjovich, both of whom are injured.
After graduating from Quinnipiac, Altman took a job at ESPN as a production assistant, according to his LinkedIn account. Now, he'll have the opportunity to be on the road with the Florida Panthers and maybe feature in an NHL game.
However, the Panthers' coaching staff and front office would likely rather not see Altman in between the pipes during a regular-season or playoff game, as that would mean both Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid had sustained injuries.
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