Florida Panthers sign physical forward Luke Kunin. What it means for the roster
The Florida Panthers on Friday continued to add to their roster ahead of training camp and the 2025-26 season by signing forward Luke Kunin to a one-year deal. The deal is reportedly worth $775,000.
Kunin, 27, is an eight-year NHL veteran and former first-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2016. He has played in 434 career NHL games, producing 73 goals and 69 assists for 142 points during stops with Minnesota, the Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets. He has 887 career hits, including at least 165 in three of the past four seasons.
“Luke is a physical and highly competitive forward who possesses excellent leadership abilities and strong character,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said in a press release announcing the signing.
The signing of Kunin gives the Panthers additional forward depth to begin the season with star winger Matthew Tkachuk reportedly set to miss the start of the season after undergoing surgery, according to a report by the Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.
The report says Tkachuk could be sidelined until January, which falls in line with the timeline Tkachuk told ESPN two weeks ago would be the case if he did elect surgery for his torn adductor and sports hernia, both of which he sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and that he played through during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s worth noting the 2026 Winter Olympics, the first in which NHL players are able to participate since 2014, take place in February. Tkachuk in June was one of the first six players named to Team USA, along with brother Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy.
If Tkachuk is out that long, the Panthers would be able to place him on long-term injured reserve to begin the season. That would temporarily take Tkachuk’s $9.5 million cap hit off the books while he is sidelined. Florida needs that because the Panthers are $4.5 million over the salary cap after Kunin’s signing when factoring in Tkachuk’s contract. Players placed on LTIR must miss a minimum of 10 games or 24 days (whichever is longer).
If Tkachuk doesn’t land on LTIR — or if he does and gets activated from it during the regular season — Florida would need to shed salary elsewhere to get cap compliant. That will most likely come in the form of trades. The players on the roster without no-trade clauses with cap hits of more than $1 million next season are forwards Anton Lundell ($5 million), Evan Rodrigues ($3 million), Eetu Luostainen ($3 million) and Jesper Boqvist ($1.5 million) plus defensemen Niko Mikkola ($2.5 million) and Dmitry Kulikov ($1.15 million).
Florida’s full list of 14 forwards under contract on one-way deals: Aleksander Barkov, Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Brad Marchand, Lundell, Rodrigues, Luostarinen, Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, Mackie Samoskevich and Kunin.
This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM.
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