According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the Florida Panthers and UFA Vladimir Tarasenko are reportedly "eying each other."
With the NHL regular season beginning on Tuesday, an unusual number of unrestricted free agents are without contracts.
Among those is Vladimir Tarasenko, a Stanley Cup champion with the Florida Panthers and one of the NHL's best snipers throughout the 2010s.
It's surprising to see Tarasenko without a contract right now. He posted 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games with the Minnesota Wild in 2025-26 despite playing in a middle-six role. He's a power-play specialist and clearly still has plenty of gas left in the tank at 34 years old.
Hence why the Panthers are reportedly interested in bringing him back to Florida.
According to NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, the Panthers and Tarasenko are “eying each other,” considering a reunion.
Tarasenko was acquired by the Panthers from the Ottawa Senators at the 2023-24 trade dealine. He posted six goals and 14 points in 19 regular-season games before adding five goals and nine points in 24 playoff games.
Tarasenko would win his second Stanley Cup of his career with the Panthers, after winning his first in 2018-19 with the St. Louis Blues.
Tarasenko's best individual moments came with the Blues. Drafted by the club in the first round (16th overall) in 2010, Tarasenko scored 30 goals six times and set a career-high of 40 in the 2015-16 season. Tarasenko would play 11 seasons with the Blues before being dealt to the New York Rangers in a deadline trade.
Since then, Tarasenko has bounced around, never playing more than one season with any of the five teams he's joined since the Blues.
With Brad Marchand injured, Tarasenko could fill a spot on the Panthers' third line. But if the Panthers are healthy, the question is where Tarasenko fits.
Another factor is that Sandis Vilmanis has looked strong in pre-season, and coach Paul Maurice is inclined to give him a go on the wing with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen until Marchand returns from injury.
Whether this moves beyond interest in a reunion is the question, but with less than a week until the season starts, Tarasenko will likely look to lock down a contract sooner rather than later.
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