Free Agency 2024: Top 5 players Florida should target next summer

The Panthers will have money to spend and roster spots to fill following next season

Next summer is going to be bonkers around the NHL.

The pool of pending free agents set to hit the open market will be one of the deepest in recent memory.

There will be franchise changing players available, plenty of top-tier talent and lots of depth to pick and choose from.

Also playing a big part in the potential fun and excitement of the 2024 free agency class is that the salary cap is expected to get a nice bump north.

It currently sits at $83.5 million, having barely risen in the time since it was moved to $81.5 million in 2019 (to be fair, a global pandemic would hit us in the months that followed).

The cap is expected to rise by $4 million to $87.5 for the 2024-25 season.

So yeah, next July is going to be fun.

Some teams have been preparing for this, and you can count the Florida Panthers among them.

Florida General Manger Bill Zito and his staff knew what they were doing when setting up their roster to have only ten players under contract past this season.

Those ten are Matthew Tkachuk, Sasha Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues, Niko Mikkola, Grigori Denisenko and goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight.

Barring any trades between now and then - and even with several, really – Zito is going to have some work to do next summer.

Fortunately, he’ll be shopping in a fully stocked grocery store.

And on that note…

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski put together a great list of the amazingly deep and enticing pool of free agents set to potentially hit the market next summer.

The full list is available for you to peruse at your own leisure, but I went through the group and selected my top five of who I’d like to see Florida target, taking into consideration both talent level and overall fit in how the Panthers are playing these days.

William Nylander – It's been reported that he will be looking for money in the $10M AAV range. With a rising salary cap, he may get his wish.

Chandler Stephenson – He plays that gritty, two-way game that would be welcomed in South Florida. He’ll be 30 when next season begins and would be a great addition to Florida’s middle six.

Tyler Bertuzzi – I think the consensus is that Bertuzzi would be a pretty good fit on the hard-nosed Panthers.

Gustav Forsling – Do people outside of South Florida know just how solid of a two-way defender Forsling is? We’re going to find out.

Noah Hanifin – He’ll likely be looking for a nice payday in his next deal, being that he’s still only 26 years old and entering what should be the prime years of his career.

Honorable Mention

Brandon Montour – The kind of season he has will dictate how much he’ll demand on the open market, but he’ll be 30 when he signs his next deal. Another big year will set him up for a nice raise with some term, but will that be too rich for Florida’s blood? Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to see the Panthers getting into a bidding war for a free agent defenseman on the north side of 30, but Montour isn’t just any defenseman. 

Joe Pavelski – The Panthers have brought in a savvy veteran forward in each of the past two seasons in Joe Thornton and Eric Staal. Pavelski has a bit more to offer at this stage in his career than either of the aforementioned veterans and he’ll demand more on the open market. I wouldn’t expect Pavelski to be looking to cash in the biggest payday on this deal, though. He’ll likely be looking to land in a place that gives him the best shot at winning a Stanley Cup.