Offseason plans blog post PT 5 (Florida)
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So today we have the eliminated Panthers who were the 5th team eliminated from playoff contention who have definitely had a surprisingly bad year as not many people predicted that last years Cup champs would fall off this year and be the second Atlantic team eliminated, they are the 5th team in my offseason preview series, as I will breakdown why the Panthers missed the playoffs and what I personally think they could do in the offseason to improve their team to try and make it better for next year.
1st up the Panthers stats for the 25-26 season
37-37-4 78 4 games left
228 20th GF
264 28th GA
PP% 19.5 22nd
PK% 81.1 10th
Goal Scoring Leaders
Reinhart 29
Marchand 27
Bennett 26
Point Leaders
Reinhart 61
Bennett 58
Verhaeghe 55
So when looking at the Panthers stats for the 25-26 season they don’t have a ton of great stats to build on this year, now Offensively they haven’t been a team as bad as say the Hawks and the Canucks but they weren’t a great offensive team this year as they rank 20th in the NHL right now with 228 goals for so they are nowhere near the offensive team they were last year but they were almost average this year in the goal scoring department so even through all of their injuries they weren’t terrible offensively and even on the PP they ranked 22nd with a 19.5% power play, so once again they have a lot of work to get back in the top half of the league for both the power play and goal scoring department but they definitely have some promise going forward as they still had guys like Reinhart and Bennett have 50+ points and 20+ goals, so bright spots for sure but they weren’t great offensively this year, while defensively they were worse then their goal scoring this year as they ranked 28th in the NHL having given up 264 goals, so once again the defensive stats are not good for the Panthers and they are going to need a lot of work to get that back up as they were a bottom 5 defensive team, however just like with the Hawks and Leafs, despite some bad defensive stats their PK was a bright spot as they have the 10th ranked PK with a 81.1% PK, so once again they had a surprisingly good PK despite being a bad defensive team and is something to build on going forward, so once again their offensive stats to leave something to be desired and the defence was terrible but the PK was a bright spot so lots of things to work on entering the offseason.
3 Reasons I believe they missed
1.) Wear and Tear/injuries: now I think the main reason the Panthers were not been able to find success this year has to be the fact that the Panthers were the most injury riddled team in the NHL this year plus the wear and tear of going to 3 straight Cup Finals, now the injuries pilled up even before the season began as Tkachuk was going to miss a few months after having surgery and Barkov tore his ACL in the preseason, so it was already going to be a big hill to climb but then Marchand, Jones, Kulikov, Mikkola, Reinhart and others missed a chunk of time due to injuries and then also the fact that they have been on 3 consecutive long postseason runs didn’t help either as the wear and tear on their bodies made them prone to injuries, so all in all the injuries I thinks were a huge reason they missed the postseason.
2.) Not great goaltending: now the 2nd reason I feel they didn’t do well was the bad goaltending they got this year. Now a big reason they missed the postseason and were one of the worst teams in the goals against department had to be the bad play from the goalies as after having some pretty stellar seasons over the past few years Bobrovsky took a rather bad step backwards this year as he had a sub .880 SV% and above 3 GAA which is nowhere good enough to make the postseason and on top of that you had Tarasov who did have slightly better numbers the Bobrovsky in his first season with Florida but had a worse record, so if the goalies were a bit better then maybe the Panthers are competing for longer and get closer but the goalies were quite bad this year and were a huge reason that the Panthers missed the Postseason.
3.) Depth scoring not there: now the final reason I believe the Panthers were not able to make the playoffs was the lack of depth scoring on this team, so as we mentioned above the Panthers still had some decent scoring from some of their top guys like Reinhart, Bennett, Verhaeghe, Marchand and some other other guys still have decent offensive seasons but the Panthers were in the bottom half of the goal scoring department this year, so I know injuries played a role here too but I think if some of their depth guys stood up they may have been a better offensive team this year and because guys like Nosek, Gregor, Samoskevich and others didn’t provide enough support was another reason I believe the Panthers missed the postseason, so I believe the fact that they had a lot of injuries + wear and tear, the bad play from goalies and the lack of depth scoring were the 3 main reasons in my opinion that the Panthers missed the postseason.
Projected cap hit: $88.46
Projected cap space: $15.54
Significant Pending UFA’s
C.Schwindt 4-2-6 in 26GP
L.Kunin 2-4-6 in 59GP
A.J Greer 15-14-29 in 75GP
N.Gregor 4-3-7 34GP
T.Nosek 0-2-2 in 19GP
V.Hinostroza 5-10-15 in 62GP
J.Studnicka 9-17-26 in 38GP (AHL)
S.Bobrovsky .877 SV% and 3.07 GAA in 52GP
D.Tarasov .892 SV% and 3.20 GAA in 30GP
Significant Pending RFA’s
M.Samoskevich 10-17-27 in 74GP
R.Bjornfot 4-8-12 in 32GP (AHL)
D.Sebrango 0-5-5 in 39GP
M.Benning 8-23-31 in 56GP (AHL)
M.Hovorka 4-12-16 in 53GP(AHL)
Now when it comes to their UFA’s and RFA’s they don’t have a ton RFA’s but do have quite a bit of depth UFA’s entering the offseason, so if you look at their UFA’s they have 7 players currently heading to free agency who at various points this year played bottom six minutes for the Panthers, now I think they may bring back a couple of them like maybe 2 or 3 but I think a majority of them will wind up leaving in the offseason as free agents as I do think the more likely ones to leave are Gregor, Hinostroza, Studnicka and Kunin but I think if they wanted to retain a couple of them then maybe they try and resign Greer, Schwindt or Nosek but I definitely expect most of them to be gone, and in net both of their goalies are Pending UFA’s as well, there has been some talk the Panthers want to bring Bobrovsky back and if the term makes sense then I could see Bob be back and while I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Panthers bring back Tarasov who is on the younger side of things, I think at this point he is more likely to hit free agency then sign, while when it comes to the RFA’s I wouldn’t be surprised if Bjornfot and maybe Hovorka were not qualified and the Panthers walked away from them as I don’t think they have big futures with the Panthers, however I do think that SeBrango and Benning could be back on short term deals as SeBrango was a serviceable 6-7 defender for the Panthers and Benning has shown flashes so I expect this guys to be back, while I feel the Panthers will either sign or trade Samoskevich as I think he is too valuable to just let walk as a free agent, so while I could see a trade I think resigning him is also a option, but that is what I think of the Panthers UFA’s and RFA’s.
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Current draft capital for Panthers in 2026: 6
1RD:
2RD: FLO, WAS
3RD:
4RD: CHI
5RD: FLO
6RD: FLO
7RD:MIN
Just real quick here the Panthers, they don’t have a lot of draft capital although they may be able to add more by the draft, now unlike the Canucks or Blackhawks that we have previously discussed the Panthers like the Leafs are not a team who has been bulking up their draft capital as they have been moving picks for instant upgrades for a while now and it did result in 2 Cup Championships by now they only have 6 picks in total for 2026 which isn’t surprising but is terrible for the Panthers to get some young pieces, now I do think that they could be worse and they did get some picks at the deadline and if they get low enough they may be able to retain their 1RD pick and get their draft capital up to 7 if things go right so it definitely could be worse, but for a team who was one of the first eliminated in the Atlantic this is a terrible amount of capital for the Panthers entering the offseason.
Lastly I look at 3 things I think they should look at in the offseason to improve
1.) Figure out who starts in net: now we look at 3 ways I feel the Panthers could improve in the offseason to become a bit more competitive next year, so the first thing I believe the Panthers should do is figure out their goalie tandem for next year, now the Panthers did not have great goaltending this year as I mentioned above as Bobrovsky had a down year and Tarasov’s record wasn’t great, but both are currently pending UFA’s and scheduled to hit free agency, so I feel this has to be the Panthers top priority in the offseason, do they wind up being back both goalies on short term deals, do they bring one back and try and go via free agency or the trade route and add another goalie, or do they let both goalies walk as UFA’s and bring in 2 new goalies in the offseason, that has to be the biggest question for Florida and there has been some talk about Bobrovsky signing a extension so maybe he stays, but I feel like the top priority for the Panthers in the offseason has to be deciding on their goalie tandem.
2.) Free up cap space by moving Luostarinen/Rodrigues: now another thing I believe the Panthers have to figure out this offseason is how to free up cap space and who to move, now the Panthers only have $15 Million dollars in cap space for this upcoming season but that is with half of their bottom six and both of their goalies hitting free agency this offseason, so they have some holes to fill and I don’t think that they have enough cap space to add all the pieces they need, so I feel they need to move a few players this offseason to free up cap space, but most of the guys that could be dealt are integral pieces of their team, so I think one of Luostarinen or Rodrigues make the most sense as both have been mentioned in trade rumours, make $3 Million and are guys who the Panthers could find cheaper replacements for, so I don’t know exactly who they will move, but I got to think that moving someone to free up cap space has to be a priority going into the offseason.
3.) Add 1-2 bottom six forwards: now another thing I really believe that the Panthers need to do the in the offseason to compete a little more next year is adding a couple of solid bottom six forwards, now as we mentioned above the Panthers have a lot of their bottom six forwards heading to UFA status and like we said they could move guys like Luostarinen or Rodrigues to create cap space, so they will need to add some bottom six help, now with their tight cap situation I could see them go after some free agents who may come at a cheap cost or make a trade or two with a bit low cheap option, so I do believe the Panthers have a few different options but I feel like they need to add a couple of bottom six forwards who can work in their bottom six and put up some points, so I think the Panthers need some more bottom six forwards and in my opinion along with figuring out goaltending and freeing up cap space I feel has to be the priorities for the Panthers this offseason.
So those are my thoughts on the Panthers, and what I think they should do in the offseason, now I feel like after the season they just had this year i think most of the reason the Panthers missed the postseason was due to their plethora of injuries so I think with some extra rest this offseason, a little tinkering and getting injured players back, this Panthers team should be back to competing and maybe even making the playoffs as early as next year, but I would love to hear your thoughts below, are you surprised how bad the Panthers were this year, do you think they keep all their Free Agents and could they add more draft capital by the draft and what do you guys think they could do in the offseason to improve for next year, love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel as well.
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