Eastern Conference off-season preview: Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are poised to dominate the league for the foreseeable future.

After winning the Stanley Cup in 2024, expectations were high once again for the team from Sunrise, Florida. Those expectations rose further during the season, as they acquired Seth Jones and Brad Marchand.

Let’s take a look at how the Panthers’ 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, and how their team will shape up come October.

How the season went

Even though the Panthers acquired Jones and Marchand before the trade deadline, they limped into the post-season due to an injury to former Flame Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad’s suspension.

Overall, they finished with a 47-31-4 record with 98 points, third-best in the Atlantic Division, just one point better than the Ottawa Senators. But after making two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, were you really going to count the Panthers out?

For the second time in as many post-seasons, the Panthers kicked off the first round with a Battle of Florida, quickly dispelling the Tampa Bay Lightning in just five games. Their toughest test of the playoffs came in the second round, as they were down 2-0 in the series to the Toronto Maple Leafs and trailed 3-1 in Game 3. However, an overtime winner in Game 3 and dominance in Toronto led the Panthers to a Game 7 victory with a final score of 6-1.

Like the Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes rolled over to the Panthers, falling in five games. Game 4 was the first time the Hurricanes won an Eastern Conference Final since 2006. proceeding to beat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final. However, unlike their matchup from the 2023 post-season, this wasn’t even close, even if the Hurricanes were swept two years ago.

With an Eastern Conference Final victory under their belt, the Panthers took on the Oilers for the second consecutive season. They didn’t jump out to a 3-0 lead this time, as the Oilers won Game 1 in overtime on home ice, followed by a Panthers’ Game 2 victory, also in overtime. In Game 3, the Panthers started to take over, as they forced the Oilers to play their game, blowing them out to take a 2-1 series lead.

The Oilers managed to tie the series at two thanks to an overtime winner in Game 4, but it was all the Panthers from there. In a pivotal Game 5, the Panthers defeated the Oilers 5-2, followed by a 5-1 victory on home ice to capture their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Drafted players

The Panthers traded many future picks over the years, with their first pick in the 2025 draft coming in the fourth round. With the 112th overall pick, they selected Frölunda winger Mads Kongsbak Klyvø from Denmark. Also in the fourth round, they selected winger Shea Busch, who was teammates with Calgary Flames prospect Eric Jamieson in Everett.

In the fifth round, the Panthers selected Shamar Moses, followed by Arvid Drott in the sixth round. With two seventh-round picks, the Panthers drafted Brendan Dunphy and Yegor Midlak, the latter being a Russian netminder.

Trades

The most noteworthy trade from the Panthers this off-season trade for their backup in 2025-26, moving a 2025 fifth to the Columbus Blue Jackets for netminder Danill Tarasov. They also traded Justin Sourdif to the Washington Capitals for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick, giving them draft capital for a move at the 2026 trade deadline.

Other than those two moves, the Panthers traded their 2026 seventh-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for the pick used to draft Dunphy.

Free agent signings

Where the Panthers made their biggest mark this off-season is with free agents. More specifically, they had three pending unrestricted free agents who were keys to their Stanley Cup victory: Marchand, Ekblad, and former Flame, Sam Bennett.

Thanks to a winning culture and being a tax-free state, the Panthers were able to re-sign all three. Bennett signed an eight-year deal worth $8 million annually, Ekblad also signed an eight-year deal worth $6.1 million annually, and the 37-year-old Marchand signed a six-year deal worth $5.25 million annually.

Additionally, the Panthers were also able to re-sign Tarasov to a one-year deal worth $1.05 million, as well as Mackie Samoskevich on a one-year deal worth $775,000. They also brought in Jeff Petry, who agreed to a one-year deal on a league-minimum deal, while Luke Kunin signed the same deal toward the end of August.

Departures

There were departures from the Panthers, but no one who left will hurt their chances of a three-peat. Defenceman Nate Schmidt is the most notable departure, as he signed a three-year deal with the Utah Mammoth.

Nico Sturm signed a two-year deal with the Minnesota Wild, while netminder Vítek Vaněček signed with the Los Angeles Kings.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26

So, how do the Panthers stack up heading into the 2025-26 season as they look to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup? Down the middle, they’ll have Aleksander Barkov, Bennett, Anton Lundell, and Tomas Nosek, a strong centre core.

On the wing, they’ll have Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, and Matthew Tkachuk in their top-six, although Tkachuk will be out of the lineup to start the year. In the bottom six, they have Eetu Luostarinen, Marchand, A.J. Greer, Jonah Gadjovich, and Samoskevich.

Defensively, Gustav Forsling and Ekblad make up a strong top pairing, followed by Niko Mikkola and Jones on the second pairing. Their left-shot defenceman on the third pair is Dmitry Kulikov, who’ll be paired with Petry.

In between the pipes, the Panthers will run Russian veteran Sergei Bobrovsky as their starter, with Tarasov backing him up.