The dust is settling after a busy start to a new NHL league year.

There have been some massive contracts handed out and interesting trades to break down, leaving us with some big names that will be wearing new sweaters next season.

One team that has been feeling pretty good for a while now is the Florida Panthers.

With the salary cap rising all the way to $95.5 million, it allowed Florida General Manager Bill Zito and his staff some additional flexibility in their efforts to keep the championship band playing together.

Thanks to some incredible willingness from the players to take less money in order to keep the Panthers’ core intact, Zito was able to retain pending unrestricted free agents Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand.

Florida also re-signed fourth line center Tomas Nosek, they acquired restricted free agent goaltender Daniil Tarasov and inked him to a one-year deal, and then signed veteran right-shooting defenseman Jeff Petry to his own one-year deal.

As it stands, Florida is $2.95 million over the salary cap, which they can exceed by 10% ($9.5 million) until Opening Night.

Florida will need to make some kind of move, or moves, in order to become cap compliant – such as make a trade or place someone on LTIR – but they’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.

For now, here is how the Panthers roster at the NHL level shakes out, including each player's average annual value (AAV) and term.

Also keep in mind that we’re no longer in a flat cap situation, so the salary cap should continue to rise as the league brings in more revenue.

That means Zito and the Panthers will be able to spend more money than they currently are, allowing them to bring in additional talent in the coming years while keeping the current group intact.

Dynasty, anyone?

Forwards: Sasha Barkov ($10M through 2030), Matthew Tkachuk ($9.5M through 2030), Sam Reinhart ($8.625M through 2032), Sam Bennett ($8M through 2033), Carter Verhaeghe ($7M through 2033), Brad Marchand ($5.25M through 2031), Anton Lundell ($5M through 2030), Evan Rodrigues ($3M through 2027), Eetu Luostarinen ($3M through 2027), Jesper Boqvist ($1.5M through 2027), A.J. Greer ($850K through 2026), Tomas Nosek ($775K through 2026) and Jonah Gadjovich ($775 through 2026)

*Florida has made a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Mackie Samoskevich, so he will likely be added to that group of forwards if and when the two sides come to terms on a new deal.

Defensemen: Seth Jones ($7M through 2030), Aaron Ekblad ($6.1M through 2033), Gus Forsling ($5.75M through 2032), Niko Mikkola ($2.5M through 2026), Dmitry Kulikov ($1.15M through 2028), Uvis Balinskis ($850K through 2026) and Jeff Petry ($775K through 2026)

Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovsky ($10M through 2026), Daniil Tarasov ($1.05M through 2026)

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Photo caption: Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; The Florida Panthers pose for a photo with the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)