Panthers not looking to hand out long-term deals in free agency

Florida would prefer to only add short-term contracts in free agency this year, barring extreme circumstances

The NHL’s annual free agency frenzy will kick off on Saturday.

Free agents from across the league will be looking for new homes both on short-term, and what they’d prefer, long-term deals with teams spanning both sides of two continents.

It will be a short break for Florida Panthers General Manager Bill Zito and his front office crew.

They’ve had very little time to maneuver between the Stanley Cup Final, which was just a couple weeks ago, the NHL Draft that took place over the past week in Nashville, and free agency, which begins on Saturday.

“It seems as if it's a constant flow, there's no break,” Panthers General Manager Bill Zito said Thursday in Nashville. “So we’ll be at it, probably even this afternoon. Yesterday we went through different iterations of, ‘Could we get this guy, can we get that guy is this possible?’ It's going to be I think an interesting and exciting free agency period, because there's a lot of teams up against the cap. There's a lot of players I think that fit needs for many teams, so it'll be interesting to see what happens on Saturday.”

There is a bit of unknown regarding what to expect for Saturday.

It’s understandable to expect a certain amount of movement and fun, because that’s what happens every year when free agency opens.

Regarding the Panthers, however, it’s safe to wonder just how much they’ll be active in, considering their financial limitations.

While yes, Florida is projected to have just over $11 million in cap space to work with, per PuckPedia, the team may be hesitant to use it all due to the fact that they need to account for players who may be injured when next season begins.

Those players are defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, who both have had shoulder surgery in the time since the season ended earlier this month.

Florida will have some holes to fill on its roster ahead of the upcoming season, but don’t expect the Panthers to hand out many, if any, deals that are longer than one or two years.

Florida is only looking to add players on short-term deals, barring any special circumstances, like a big-name free agent or simply a player or deal too good to pass up on.

Belief is that the Cats will be looking more for depth additions this offseason, barring any unforeseen circumstances. 

The Panthers have most of their roster returning for the 2023-24 season, but after that, almost every contract will be coming off of Florida’s books.

Only Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad and goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight will remain signed past the conclusion of next season.

That will mean a lot of flexibility for Zito and his colleagues in Florida’s front office, but also a lot of holes to fill.

While that remains a ways away, it’s something to keep in mind as the Panthers venture into this year’s free agent pool.