With the Olympic break upon us, the trade deadline is under a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? After looking at bubble teams in recent days, we now shift the focus to teams currently in a playoff spot. Next up are the Panthers.
Winning the Stanley Cup is a war of attrition, and while the Florida Panthers have been remarkably successful over the last few years, the scars of their relentless chase of championships have come to a head this season. The club has played deep into the spring and early summer for three straight years, but do not currently look positioned to do the same this year. The Panthers sit third-to-last place in the Eastern Conference, eight points adrift of the Boston Bruins, who occupy the second wild card spot. Captain Aleksander Barkov, the team’s most valuable player, suffered an injury that will cost him the entire season, and star Matthew Tkachuk has been limited to just 10 games as a result of an injury of his own. Seth Jones, one of their top defensemen, is also on long-term injured reserve. While the Panthers can never be counted out to provide a late-season surge, it’s questionable whether the best path forward for the franchise would be investing more deeply into a 2025-26 season that continues to slip away.
Record
29-25-3, 8th in the Atlantic (15.7% playoff probability)
Deadline Status
Short-term sellers/long-term buyers
Deadline Cap Space
$2.56MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 45/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: FLA 2nd, WSH 2nd, CHI 4th, FLA 5th, FLA 6th
2027: FLA 2nd, FLA 3rd, FLA 4th, FLA 5th, FLA 6th, WSH 6th, FLA 7th, SJS 7th
Trade Chips
While the Panthers have taken a notable step back this season, don’t expect their competitive downturn to be a permanent one. The Panthers still have a core of players locked into long-term contracts that remains the envy of the league, and will enter next season healthier and better-rested than they have been in years. As a result, the Panthers are unlikely to enter into this season’s deadline with much interest in subtracting players who might be able to fit into the team’s roster puzzle starting next season.
The Panthers don’t figure to have an abundance of trade chips at their disposal. While some veterans such as Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen would make valuable trade assets, the fact that each has an extra year on their contract at an affordable cap hit ($3MM each) makes keeping them more valuable to the Panthers than trading them. The Panthers have every intent of returning to true Stanley Cup contention as soon as next season, so it doesn’t make sense to subtract too dramatically from a formula that has worked so well. (This season’s results notwithstanding.)
With that said, Florida isn’t totally without players they could trade over the next month – they just aren’t likely to fetch the team a huge amount of value in return. A.J. Greer is having the most productive season of his career, and brings three valuable traits contenders look for at the deadline: size, depth production, and Stanley Cup experience.
He’s scored 11 goals and 21 points in 57 games this season, which is already a career-high. Given how much money Florida already has committed to its roster for next season, Greer’s performances may be pricing himself out of remaining in Florida beyond the deadline.
Veteran center Luke Kunin, also a pending UFA, was a trade asset last season when the San Jose Sharks received a fourth-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for his services. Kunin is unlikely to cost as much this year, seeing as he’s averaging the fewest minutes of any regular forward in head coach Paul Maurice’s lineup. But Kunin has won 51.5% of his draws this season, and is averaging a little over a minute on the penalty kill, so teams looking for a cheap veteran depth center could be interested.
On defense, the only option that works as a rental is veteran Jeff Petry, as the 38-year-old is the only NHL regular on the blueline who is a pending UFA. Petry has over 1,000 games of NHL experience and has been a regular for the Panthers, playing in 55 of the team’s 57 games and averaging 14:51 time on ice per game. While he likely wouldn’t return the Panthers significant value, he could be a player of interest to teams looking to shore up their blueline depth in a way that won’t break the bank.
Team Needs
Healthy Core Players: Ultimately, no external addition the Panthers could realistically make would be as impactful as getting their players back to full health. This is a team whose competitive fortunes look totally different with Barkov in the lineup. With Jones also on injured reserve, the Panthers are down their most important overall player, as well as one of their top defensemen. Since Barkov is extremely unlikely to return in 2025-26, the Panthers are likely best-served prioritizing building up their odds of contending next season, rather than in what remains of this year.
Cost-Controlled Depth: The closest modern-day comparable to what the Panthers have achieved in the past two years is the Tampa Bay Lightning of the first few years of the decade, as they won back-to-back titles and lost in another Stanley Cup Final. Beyond their elite core group of players, the Lightning were able to build a dominant contender because of the significant surplus value they mined in the depth roles of their lineup.
Photos courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images