What to know as Panthers head into another NHL draft without a first-round pick
When the regular season ended, the Florida Panthers found themselves in possession of a top-10 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, which takes place Friday (Round 1, starting at 7 p.m.) and Saturday (Rounds 2-7, starting at 11 a.m.).
Last weekend, the Panthers acquired a second first-round pick by virtue of trading forward Mackie Samoskevich to the Seattle Kraken.
And then hours later, both of those picks were gone, with Florida dealing those selections, plus two more — another first-round pick earmarked for the 2029 draft and a second-round pick in 2027 — in its blockbuster deal to acquire star forward Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators.
This is familiar territory for the Panthers under president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito. Florida has selected in the first round just twice in his tenure: Anton Lundell at No. 12 in the 2020 draft and Samoskevich at No. 24 in the 2021 draft, Zito’s first two drafts.
He has dealt the rest to pick up stars to help shape the Panthers’ future — and establish the core for a team that reached three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and won back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025 before an injury-filled season stymied their chance for a three-peat.
The 2022 pick? To Buffalo for forward Sam Reinhart, who has become a staple on the team’s top line and one of the league’s top two-way wingers.
The 2023 and 2024 picks? Originally to Montreal and Philadelphia for defenseman Ben Chiarot and forward Claude Giroux, respectively, two of the rare trades in Zito’s tenure that didn’t have long-term benefits for Florida.
The 2025 pick? To Calgary along with Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar for superstar winger Matthew Tkachuk, who quickly became one of the faces of the franchise.
This year’s top picks (the team’s No. 9 selection and the No. 25 pick acquired from Seattle) went to Ottawa along with their 2029 first-round selection for Brady Tkachuk.
And Florida has already dealt two additional future first-round picks — for 2027 and 2028 — in order to acquire defenseman Seth Jones and forward Brad Marchand at the 2025 trade deadline.
With all that said, Zito will still be hard at work the next few days with both the draft and beyond.
He’s still working the phones to figure out ways to bolster the current roster and fill the final needs for the team. On Thursday, the Panthers acquired veteran winger Garnet Hathaway and a 2026 sixth-round pick from the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2026 fifth-round pick and 2027 fourth-round pick. The Flyers are retaining half of Hathaway’s salary, so he will only be a $1.2 million cap hit for Florida.
And the Panthers still have six selections in the draft: Nos. 40 and 48 in the second round, No. 98 in the fourth round, Nos. 168 and 181 in the sixth round and No. 217 in the seventh round.
Now, this lot of selections isn’t necessarily finalized.
Florida could trade for additional picks by flipping players to get some extra salary cap space. The Panthers are only about $5.87 million under the cap following the Hathaway trade and still need two goaltenders. Among players who would be logical to deal in this situation would be forwards Evan Rodrigues ($3.08 million) and/or Jesper Boqvist ($1.5 million), both of whom are entering the final year of their deals and are likely to be relegated to fourth-line duties barring injuries.
The Panthers could also all-in and use players and the little current draft capital they have to try to swing another big trade. The Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck and St. Louis Blues’ Jordan Binnington are two netminders who have been connected to Florida in trade rumors, but both currently are due to have salary hits larger than the Panthers’ cap space (Hellebuyck $8.5 million per season for five more seasons; Binnington $6 million for next season).
Regardless of what shakes out, expect anything with Zito. He has shown in the past that he’s not afraid to take big swings and make the most of the resources at his disposal.
Watch party
While the Panthers don’t have a first-round pick at the moment, the team is still holding its announced watch party at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
Activities start at 5 p.m. and Panthers play-by-play announcer Steve Goldstein will moderate a pre-draft panel with Zito, Reinhart and defenseman Aaron Ekblad beginning at 6 p.m.
There will be a skate and watch option for fans who want to be on the ice while the draft is being televised. Those interested can register on the IcePlex website’s public skating tab
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