As NHL offseason begins, could Zito and Panthers swing big trade to fortify roster?
The Stanley Cup has been crowned, with the Carolina Hurricanes defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.
Now, the NHL offseason begins.
And the Florida Panthers are eyeing what it will take to get back to championship contention after an injury-ravaged season kept them out of the playoffs after three consecutive runs to the Stanley Cup Final and back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.
While the majority of Florida’s core is already signed long-term, Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito still has some work to do to set his roster before the 2026-27 season starts in October.
And Florida has already been linked to potentially one of the bigger moves that could come this offseason.
Detroit Red Wings captain and forward Dylan Larkin, an 11-year NHL veteran with 643 career points (276 goals, 367 assists) through 808 career games and who was part of the United States’ gold medal-winning team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, has requested a trade. The Panthers, unsurprisingly, are on Larkin’s short list. Larkin still has five years remaining on a deal that holds an annual cap hit of $8.7 million. Florida enters the offseason with $15,277,500 in cap space.
Zito has not been afraid to take big swings during his tenure with the Panthers. That’s how he landed the likes of star winger Matthew Tkachuk, veteran winger Brad Marchand and top defenseman Seth Jones, all of whom have been integral to Florida’s success in recent years.
But do the Panthers have enough assets to make the deal happen, should they want to proceed?
Or, is this the main player they should be targeting in a trade?
Another big name player might try to force his way off his current team in goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, another 11-year NHL veteran and three-time Vezina Trophy winner who has a career 345-208-55 record, 2.58 goals against average, .916 save percentage and 45 shutouts during his career with the Winnipeg Jets. Hellebuyck, who was also part of the United States’ Olympic team, has five years remaining on his current deal with an annual cap hit of $8.5 million.
The goalie spot is Florida’s biggest question mark entering the offseason, with both Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov slated to be unrestricted free agents on July 1 unless a deal is made before that.
Both Larkin and Hellebuyck have full no-movement clauses in their contracts, which allows them to essentially dictate where they want to go should they be traded.
Now, should Florida proceed in an attempt to get either — and, a reminder, that Hellebuyck hasn’t formally requested a trade just yet — what could the Panthers offer?
They have three picks in the top 50 of the 2026 NHL Draft, which takes place June 26-27, including the No. 9 overall pick in the first round and picks Nos. 40 and 48 in the second round.
From a personnel standpoint, the following Panthers players don’t have no-movement clauses in their contracts and thus would theoretically could be available: Forwards Anton Lundell ($5 million annual cap hit through 2029-30), Evan Rodrigues ($3.08 million cap hit in 2026-27), Eetu Luostarinen ($3 million cap hit in 2026-27), Jesper Boqvist ($1.5 million cap hit in 2026-27), Jonah Gadjovich ($905,000 annual cap hit through 2027-28), Cole Reinhardt ($813,000 cap hit in 2026-27), Cole Schwindt (restricted free agent) and Mackie Samoskevich (restricted free agent) plus defensemen Niko Mikkola ($5 million annual cap hit through 2030-31), Dmitry Kulikov ($1.18 million annual cap hit through 2027-28), Uvis Balinskis ($875,000 annual cap hit through 2027-28) and Donovan Sebrango (restricted free agent).
Florida also has prospects at its disposal it could use to sweeten deals.
Lundell and, to a lesser extent, Mikkola would likely be non-starters in trade discussions because of their value to the team, especially given their price point. Lundell has shown he can fill in as a top-line center, while Mikkola has been integral as a top-four defenseman and on the penalty kill.
Anything else, though, is probably fair game should Zito want to pull the trigger.
Panthers make a pair of minor moves
The Panthers have already made a couple small moves in the lead-up to the offseason.
They signed goaltender prospect Cooper Black to a two-year, two-way contract extension that goes through the 2027-28 season and acquired defenseman prospect Emil Pieniniemi from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for the rights to forward Oliver Okuliar.
Black went 25-13-4 with a 2.47 goals against average and .903 save percentage, including one shutout, in 42 games for the Charlotte Checkers last season.
Pieniniemi split time between the American Hockey League and ECHL last season while in the Penguins’ system.
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