Well, they’ve done it again! The Florida Panthers are back to back Stanley Cup Champions, dispatching the Edmonton Oilers for the second time in as many years. However, a critical offseason looms on the horizon. Much like last year, the Panthers have several key UFAs to worry about. Last year, Sam Reinhart was resigned to an 8 year deal as time trickled down, but Brandon Montour went off to Seattle. This year, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad were set to be UFAs. Verhaeghe extended for 8 years at the start of the season, but both Bennett and Ekblad are up for renewal, along with a third player who is key.

Brad Marchand was acquired at the Trade Deadline. The original Rat King quickly became a fan favorite in Florida and was instrumental in winning the Stanley Cup. Both Bennett and Marchand were Florida’s best postseason players, both finishing at the top of the Conn Smythe rankings with Bennett taking home the honors. Other notable UFAs include D Nate Schmidt, C Tomas Nosek, G Vitek Vanecek and C Nico Sturm. I expect all four to leave this offseason, with Schmidt getting a big payday, Nosek getting a decent raise, and the other two likely taking paycuts. The Panthers have exactly $19,000,000 in cap space. Here is how I forsee the Panthers offseason playing out. I’ve used Puckpedia for this simulation.

The Big Three

Sam Bennett is likely not going anywhere. It’s been widely reported that Bennett will likely resign in South Florida, on an 8 year contract around $7.5 million AAV.

That leaves Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand. Although Bill Zito said that he hopes he can keep all his guys, being realistic the Panthers will only be able to keep one of them. Aaron Ekblad has been an incredible servant to the club and will likely have his jersey retired at the end of his career. However, I just don’t think the Panthers can afford to keep him around at a contract he’d want, especially considering his injury history, and asking price. I think Ekblad will test Free Agency and will likely end up on a different team, leaving a hole on the Right side of the Defense that needs to be plugged (will address later). However, I expect that the Panthers will be able to re-sign Brad Marchand.

The neat thing with Marchand being 35+ is that we can bonus laden his contract. There is also a new trend in the NHL of deferred money being used. I think the Panthers will sign Marchand to a deal with a low cap hit, but heavily bonus-laden with a bunch of deferred money. Additionally, maybe the promise of an A on his jersey entices him to stay. Using PuckPedia’s deferral calculator, having Marchand defer $500,000 for years 5-15, $1,000,000 to year 16 and $2,000,000 to year 17, Marchand’s $5,000,000 x 4 year deal comes out to this:

Other Re-Signings

The Panthers have one NHL RFA, several AHL RFAs and several AHL UFAs. Here are the guys I think comeback:

Other than Samoskevich, I can’t see anyone really making the NHL Roster next season. I know some of you are thinking “What about Justin Sourdif?” and I will get to him soon as well. Samoskevich signs a bridge deal at $1,500,000 for two years. Benning and Bjornfot are signed to maintain the minor league backend. Entwistle, Okuilar, Skoog, Asplund, Lockwood, Dalpe and Puljujarvi all play up front in Charlotte and Kaapo Kahkonen comes back as the Panthers third string Goalie.

The Replacement

With Aaron Ekblad gone, I expect Bill Zito will be aggressive in going out to find a Right Handed Defenseman to replace him. I think Zito calls up Craig Conroy in Calgary, and the Panthers add another Swede to the backline. I predict that Rasmus Andersson will be the Aaron Ekblad replacement.

Andersson has one year left with $4.55 million per year. The Panthers will certainly sign him to an extension once he comes here, say something around what Brandon Montour got in Seattle (7 years, $50 million total). To make this trade go through, Evan Rodrigues heads out to Calgary as a cap casualty. Rodrigues has been a good servant for the club, serving as a Jack of all Trades guy who can plug into everywhere in the lineup. However, with the Panthers being tight against the cap, and a Top 4 Defenseman being a more pressing need, I expect Rodrigues’s time in Florida will end. Justin Sourdif I have added to the trade along with a 2026 2nd and 2027 5th. Will that be enough? I don’t know to be honest. Calgary here gets an NHL middle six forward, a prospect who can play in the NHL this year and two draft picks for a guy who likely isn’t re-signing with them, so I don’t think the Flames have as much leverage as many think they do. I could see Florida throwing in a prospect like Gracyn Sawchyn instead if the Flames don’t find Sourdif a satisfactory part of the package. However, Andersson isn’t the only Right Handed Defenseman I have coming to South Florida this offseason.

Moving Across the Alley

For a third pairing Right Handed Defenseman to partner with Dmitry Kulikov, I expect the Panthers will once again headhunt a player out of Tampa. The Panthers have had a lot of success bringing in players from their cross-state rivals, and I think Nick Perbix could be another player who can find success on the other side of the Battle of Florida.

Out of all the contracts on here, this is probably the most unrealistic, as I think Perbix would definitely command more than the $1.5 million I have him taking. However, Zito has gotten guys before for less money whom were projected to get much more.

Homecoming

Now, there are two holes remaining in the Panthers roster. A 4th line center and a backup goaltender. I expect the Cats will go back to some old faces to fill those roles.

The Florida Panthers dynasty does not happen without the efforts of Alex Lyon. Lyon had a hot streak down the stretch filling in for an injured Sergei Bobrovsky to propel the Panthers into the 2022-23 Playoffs. Although he would lose the crease to Bobrovsky during Round 1, which led to the complete 180 degree turn on the view of Bobrovsky’s contract, Lyon parlayed his successful run into a nice gig with Detroit. He found himself as the #1 in Detroit during 2023-24 and had solid numbers, and as Cam Talbot’s backup, his numbers were lackluster in his 30 appearances in 2024-25. However, I think bringing back Lyon to serve as Bobrovsky’s backup again would be a smart move. I expect the Panthers will take a goaltender with their first pick in the draft this year to find a replacement for Spencer Knight. The Panthers goaltending prospect pool is pretty solid with Cooper Black, Kirill Gerasimyuk, Olof Glifford and Denis Gabdrakhamov. Lyon coming back for a year as Bob’s understudy is a good stopgap.

To fill the 4C role, I got Nick Bjugstad coming back to Florida. For the new fans, Nick Bjugstad was one of the original future faces of the franchise. He was a 1st round pick in 2010 and had a solid start to his career, before injuries and other factors resulted in his production dropping off. A strong 2017-18 campaign showed hope that he could return to his former promise, but a lackluster start to the 2018-19 season saw him dealt to Pittsburgh. Bjugstad has since bounced around with stints in Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Arizona, Edmonton, before returning to Arizona and then going with them when they relocated to Utah. Bjugstad had an offensive resurgence in 2023-24 with 22 goals, before only putting up 19 points in 2024-25. Bjugstad coming back is a low risk high reward option for the Panthers. He is a strong 4th line center, a fan favorite, and if he can rediscover his offense, which he has proved that he has, can add another dimension to the Panthers lineup that they didn’t have before.

Projected Lineup

While there are questions of whether Matthew Tkachuk will need offseason surgery, after playing through the Stanley Cup playoffs with a torn adductor and sports hernia. According to Google’s AI Overview (yes I’ve gotten lazy on research), a torn adductor surgery requires six months to recover normally. Tkachuk is waiting to make a decision on whether to get surgery, but we will be operating under the assumption that Tkachuk is ready to go. If Tkachuk is unable to go, we could see the Luostarinen-Lundell-Marchand line emerge as the Panthers true 2nd line, with Bennett serving a third line of Samoskevich and Jesper Boqvist. That would give Florida $9.5 million in LTIR space. But back to the original assumption of Tkachuk foregoing surgery, here is what the 2025-26 Florida Panthers could look like:

Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov (C)-Sam Reinhart

Mackie Samoskevich-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk (A)

Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand (A)

AJ Greer-Nick Bjugstad-Jesper Boqvist

Gustav Forsling-Rasmus Andersson

Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones

Dmitry Kulikov-Nick Perbix

Sergei Bobrovsky

Alex Lyon

Scratches: Uvis Balinskis, Jonah Gadjovich

Projected Cap Hit: $95,457,728

Cap Space: $42,272