Florida Panthers News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Florida Panthers Trade Deadline Moves

Originally posted on Inside The Rink | By Kristie Delisi | Last updated Mar 8, 2026 10:11 AM ET

The Cats were expected to be sellers at the deadline; instead, GM Bill Zito opted to make other moves he thinks will improve the roster. There was a lot of noise around A. J. Greer and Sergei Bobrovsky, both are pending free agents at the end of the season. But as deadline day wore on, reporting changed, and it was made known that the Panthers are instead working on re-signing both Bobrovsky and Greer. Bill said on Bobrovsky, “Sergei is a part of our franchise, part of our core, and we want to try to keep him.” HC Paul Maurice commented, saying that there’s been more noise on the outside than on the inside. The only piece dealt out the door was Jeff Petry, who Florida traded to the Minnesota Wild for a conditional 7th round pick in this year’s draft. The Panthers have had a good run over the last couple of years, helping aging d-men like Petry regain form and have a great year. Unfortunately, that hasn’t panned out this year, and maybe it’s a different conversation if Florida wasn’t injured to hell and back the entire year.

The Cats’ first trade of the day was once again with the Wild for Vinnie Hinostroza for future considerations. Hinostroza was a player Zito dealt away during the 2021 trade deadline, and if you’ve paid any type of attention to the types of moves Bill has liked to make over the last few seasons, especially when bringing in players, he likes to bring in guys they’re familiar with. This season alone, they brought in Tarasov, whom Bill saw while he was in Columbus, and Cole Schwidnt, who was traded to Calgary as part of the Tkachuk trade. Hinostroza didn’t play many games with the Panthers during the 2020-2021 season, but obviously, the front office likes what they see in him to bring him back. He’s at cap friendly league-min deal that will expire at the end of the year.

Florida is also bringing in Cole Reinhardt, who they claimed off waivers from Vegas. He’s played 44 games for the Golden Knights with 3G, 4A for 7 points. What sticks out to me is that he’s producing 11.70 hits per 60, which ranked 3rd on Vegas. Given the style that Florida plays, that’s the sort of thing that will fit in well with the group. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees some decent ice time down the stretch as the Cats deal with the injury roster they have at the moment.

It’s a significantly quieter deadline for Florida, especially after the bombastic moves made last year. But it looks like the front office believes this season to be an outlier with the roster they have and all the long-term deals to lock up players to keep the band together. Bill Zito when he spoke with the media, said, “I don’t think we’re quitting on anything, but we’re also realistic.” He noted that getting depth was important as the coaches and medical staff evaluate if any players need to be shut down for the year or have reduced ice time. HC Paul Maurice echoed that sentiment, saying, “Some of these guys are probably going to have to get some rest. We don’t want to have an injury that’s been lagging for two months get worse in the last week and set a guy back two months in his rehab.” But there are two big takeaways from this year’s deadline for me:

1. Bill Zito isn’t going to make trades that don’t benefit the team in some way. As he put it, he wasn’t going to make trades just to make trades. He’s also sending Petry to a Cup Contender, which was the expectation for what Florida would be this season. So he’s still doing right by his player to that degree.

2. Winning two Stanley Cups obviously isn’t enough for him; he’s an ambitious GM who can think of the here and now, but also the future of the team. He believes deeply in the group he’s put together. You don’t sign 11 players through at least 2030 if there’s not enough proof of concept that it works and is proven to be championship quality. We all have seen it time and again that Bill will make any big moves he thinks are possible to improve the team. It was only a year ago that he set the hockey world ablaze by trading for Brad Marchand in the 11th hour. He was very optimistic about the future of the Panthers during his press conference. He said, “I’m excited, and I can tell you I’m hungry.”

https://feeds.simplecast.com/iWWhO4_4

This article first appeared on Inside The Rink and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: