Each summer, The Athletic ranks every NHL team’s contracts — highlighting the best deals, the worst, and everything in between. This year, the Florida Panthers ranked in the top five, coming in at No.4.
The Panthers fell three spots from last season's ranking after topping the list in 2024. Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk highlight the most efficient contracts on the team, all receiving A+ grades. The trio have been the top scorers on the Panthers during this immensely successful period, and controlling them at an efficient rate has played a key role in why the Panthers have dominated.
"That starts at the very top with four of the absolute best deals in hockey for Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Gustav Forsling. The trio of forwards could easily command a deal somewhere between Mitch Marner and Leon Draisaitl and instead are all making $10 million or less. Gustav Forsling is a proven No. 1 defenseman making a pittance at just $5.75 million. Add deals for Aaron Ekblad and Anton Lundell to that mix and the Panthers are saving a ton of money on one of the league’s best cores for the next five seasons."
Recent contracts signed by Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand lowered the Panthers' overall score, with both players receiving D letter grades. Although Dom Luszczyszyn understands the significance of signing those contracts, he believes that due to his model, Bennett and Marchand did not take any discounts, and that eventually the contracts could catch up to the Panthers in a negative way.
"So why don’t the Panthers rank higher? It’s mostly because they’ve entered another realm which is all about maintenance with a goal of bringing the entire championship squad back. All that money saved on the core went directly towards making sure the services of Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand could be retained. Given the team’s win-now position, it was a necessary risk to run it back knowing the next 2-3 years are the most pivotal.
Neither Bennett nor Marchand took a discount, and at some point, it’s likely the Panthers will pay the price for it. There’s no way Marchand is playing until he’s 43, especially not at a $5.3 million level. It’s unlikely Bennett ages well, either considering the kind of game he plays. But given their playoff acumen as two of the dawgiest dawgs that ever dawgged, giving both the bag was a necessary risk.
Someday those two deals might look bad, while the rest don’t shimmer quite as brightly — and that’s part of the disconnect. This exercise considers what Florida’s cap sheet might look like near the end of all these deals, just as much as it considers what they look like now. The relative age of everyone compared to Carolina, for example, is part of the reason the Panthers aren’t No.1. Essentially, it’s balancing the fact that no team has better cap efficiency than Florida for the 2025-26 season with the likelihood that things won’t look this peachy in 2031."
The Panthers are in a sticky situation with the salary cap, but will get some relief when Tkachuk begins the season on the LTIR. They are once again poised to be the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
"All that matters is Florida has put itself in a fantastic position to win next season and beyond with its incredible cap efficiency. Flags fly forever, and the Panthers have a real chance to fly another one or two. So who cares what the Marchand deal looks like five years from now?"