After big trades, Florida Panthers have eyes set on another deep Stanley Cup run
There were some technical issues with Bill Zito’s microphone Friday during his post-trade deadline press conference. Shortly after he finished his opening remarks, the microphone Zito was using had to be replaced.
“Can I drop it?” Zito asked with a wry smile on his face.
With the moves Zito had made over the past week leading up to that moment, consider that proverbial mic drop already done.
Two blockbusters highlighted the flurry. First, it was getting five-time All-Star defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1 to kick off the spree of five moves over a seven-day span. Lastly, it was acquiring two-time All-Star and veteran power forward Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins in a deal finalized moments before the league’s 3 p.m. deadline on Friday.
Three other trades happened in between, with Florida picking up goaltender Vitek Vanecek and center Nico Sturm in a pair of separate trades with the San Jose Sharks as well as goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen from the Winnipeg Jets. The Panthers also received a 2026 fourth-round pick from the Blackhawks and 2027 seventh-round pick from the Sharks.
For all that, the Panthers traded away goaltender Spencer Knight and a conditional 2026 first-round pick to the Blackhawks, forward prospect Patrick Giles and a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Sharks, a conditional 2027 second-round pick to the Bruins and goaltender Chris Driedger to the Jets.
The moves made the obvious very, very clear: The Panthers are all-in on their quest to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, and Zito once again is using every asset at his disposal to put the Panthers in as prime of a position to get that done.
“We are looking forward to buckling down and moving forward to focus on being the best team we can be and going as far as we can go,” Zito said. “We’re thrilled.”
How the newcomers fit
Now, the Panthers’ roster was already in pretty good shape before the flurry of moves. Florida enters its home game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday atop the Atlantic Division with a 39-21-3 record with 19 games left in the regular season.
But Zito, always in win-now mode, isn’t one to stand pat if there is an opportunity to improve the roster.
And that he did.
The first priority was to bolster his defenseman group. He did that by swinging the deal for Jones, who was the top available blueliner on the market. Jones immediately slotted in on Florida’s second defense pairing with Niko Mikkola, which moved Dmitry Kulikov to the third pairing with Nate Schmidt while the duo of Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad — one of the top defense pairings in the league over the past few years — continues to occupy the top spot.
“He’s going to be a great player for us for a long time,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Jones.
Acquiring Jones came at the cost of Knight, which had Zito shift his immediate focus to Florida’s backup goaltender situation. In Vanecek, the Panthers have an experienced netminder to serve as Sergei Bobrovsky’s No. 2. Vanecek has played in 181 career NHL games, going 94-52-20 with a .903 save percentage, 2.82 goals-against average and nine shutouts. He also has played in 10 career playoff games, including two games against the Panthers in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs when he was with the Washington Capitals.
Kahkonen provides depth beyond Bobrovsky and Vanecek as Florida’s No. 3 option in net.
“We thought that was important to give ourselves some extra [experience] and maybe solidify that position a little bit more,” Zito said.
The acquisitions of Marchand and Sturm fortify Florida’s forward depth in several ways.
Marchand adds another dangerous weapon to the top of the lineup once healthy. He’s currently out with an upper-body injury sustained on March 1 and Zito said he will likely remain sidelined a couple more weeks.
Sturm gives Florida another option at fourth-line center who is excellent on faceoffs (an NHL-leading 62.7 pecent this season), responsible defensively and provides offense when needed (13 points this year and 46 goals over his NHL career).
The Panthers used similar depth to their advantage last season during their Stanley Cup run, rotating five forwards along their fourth line throughout the postseason.
The group this season when at full strength might be even deeper. The mainstays like Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Bennett will remain at the top of the lineup. The middle tier — a group that features Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen and Jesper Boqvist — have proven they can slot in wherever needed and still make an impact. A.J. Greer, Jonah Gadjovich and Tomas Nosek have been steady presences on the fourth line.
Now add Marchand and his 1,090 games and 976 points over 16 seasons to the top nine and Sturm to the fourth-line options, and a high-octane Florida offense just got that much more dangerous.
“You have injuries, you have fatigue, you have matchups, and sometimes change is good for change,” Zito said. “Every once in a while, you just want just a different look, a different scheme. ... It gives the coaches optionality. And with our team, not only can you go horizontally, but you can go vertically with a lot of these guys who have the ability to play in different places. So it’s a tremendous asset.”
How Matthew Tkachuk’s injury aided Panthers
Most of these moves would not have been possible if not for Tkachuk being placed on long-term injured reserve while dealing with an apparent groin injury sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February.
That move, which happened after the team acquired Jones, opened up $9.5 million of cap relief that Florida previously didn’t have (the Jones trade initially left them about $500,000 under the cap). And because teams don’t have to be cap compliant during the playoffs, Florida is able to use all of that money throughout the regular season as long as Tkachuk remains sidelined.
That extra flexibility afforded Zito the opportunity to explore more options over the course of the past week.
“If we have this opportunity now, and we have the opportunity to get better and improve,” Zito said, “it’s a decision that you make.”
Zito had no update on Tkachuk’s status on Friday outside of that he hopes the winger will be available when the playoffs begin.
“I’m not being coy,” Zito said. “I don’t know.”
What Zito does know is that he did what he could over the past week to make the Panthers a better version of themselves for the final stretch of the season.
It paid off last season as the Panthers hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
He’ll soon find out if they’ll be able to do it again in a little more than three months.
“We’ll see,” Zito said. “It’s not necessary the additions and total value of your assets that determines who wins. It’s the team. We do think they’re character guys. We spend an awful lot of time making sure, as best we can, we know that these are people that are going to fit into that room because that’s everything.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
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