Although he might not be the starting goaltender for the Florida Panthers heading into the 2026-27 season, Akira Schmid will have plenty of pressure on his shoulders and will be very important for the organization.
Over the past seven seasons, the Florida Panthers haven't had to worry much about their goaltending situation.
Sergei Bobrovsky was a workhorse who delivered when the team needed him to. But now, Bobrovsky is the starting netminder for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Panthers have moved on.
Heading into the 2026-27 season, the Panthers goaltending duo will consist of Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid.
Markstrom is a proven goaltender, having played 578 NHL games. But Markstrom is now 36 years old and is coming off two poor seasons with the New Jersey Devils despite high expectations. He is far from a safe option in goal and has lost the ability to be a workhorse No. 1.
Schmid, on the other hand, is just 26 years old but has only 82 NHL games of experience. His numbers have been inconsistent, but he is coming off a season in which he played 34 games with the Vegas Golden Knights, who went to the Stanley Cup Final.
The likelihood of Schmid stealing the No. 1 role from Markstrom is slim, but Schmid will still be an important piece of the Panthers' success.
Markstrom hasn't eclipsed the 50-game mark in any of the three previous seasons. With an 84-game schedule, Markstrom's 44 games during the 2025-26 season would equal just 52 percent of the games. If Markstrom is unable to play more than 44 games again, either due to fatigue, injury, or poor performance, it would require Schmid to dress in 40 games, setting a new career high.
That raises multiple questions. Can Schmid handle the workload, and will he be able to perform at a high enough level to keep the Panthers competitive in a strong Atlantic Division?
There is evidently more pressure on Markstrom than there is on Schmid. Markstrom is the goalie the Panthers want starting games when the playoffs come, but as the 2025-26 season demonstrated, the Panthers need to play well in the regular season to get themselves there. There is far too much parity in the NHL to just coast to the playoffs.
That's where the pressure on Schmid will arise from. In the past, the Panthers felt comfortable with Bobrovsky starting over 50 games a season and then throwing strong backup netminders like Anthony Stolarz and Spencer Knight into the crease when Bobrovsky required rest.
The Panthers no longer have that workhorse and need to see positive results before they can trust their backup netminder.
While Markstrom will be important and has plenty of pressure on him, Schmid is almost just as important.
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