Panthers sign former first-round defenseman

Just over a week after having his contract bought out by the Columbus Blue Jackets, defenseman Adam Boqvist has found a new home. The Florida Panthers announced they have signed the Swedish blue liner to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Boqvist came into the league as the eighth overall selection by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2018 NHL Draft. He skated in 15 games for Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League that season while tallying one assist in total. Much of Boqvist’s draft pedigree came from his time on the international stage with Team Sweden, where he posted four goals and 11 assists for Sweden’s under-18 team in 16 international contests.

He made his NHL debut during the would-be shortened 2019-20 NHL season. Over two full campaigns with the Blackhawks, Boqvist scored six goals and 29 points over 76 games while averaging 16:35 of ice time per game. The Falun, Sweden native, appeared a little immature on the defensive side of the puck during his rookie and sophomore seasons but showed some promise as a future top-four defenseman.

His time in Chicago was shortlived as the Blackhawks traded Boqvist along with a first-round pick in 2021, a second-round pick in 2021, and a conditional first-round pick in 2022 to the Blue Jackets for the package that would land defenseman Seth Jones in Chicago. As the only player included in the deal — Boqvist had big skates to fill in Columbus.

Boqvist’s offensive output was much better with the Blue Jackets, as he scored 16 goals and 46 points in 98 games during his first two years with the Blue Jackets. Still, it became readily apparent there would be injury concerns following the young defenseman. To this day, he has not been able to skate in a full regular season and has a yearly-high number of games played, a total of 52. This past season was especially bad for Boqvist as he was limited to 35 games played and scored 10 points.

There may be some optimism for Boqvist landing in Florida as he has been a quality possession player throughout his time in the NHL and will go to a system that thrives in it. The Panthers had one of the best defensive teams in the league during the 2023-24 NHL season en route to their first Stanley Cup title in team history. Boqvist will have far less responsibility on Florida’s blue line and may even operate as the team’s seventh defenseman to start the season.