Panthers Acquire Rights To Radko Gudas
According to a team announcement, the Florida Panthers have acquired the signing rights to defenseman Radko Gudas from the Anaheim Ducks for the signing rights to forward A.J. Greer. Each player is set to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday unless a deal is reached with their new clubs.
Florida has been adding grit to their lineup in an effort to return to the playoffs for the 2026-27 season. Already boasting the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Dmitry Kulikov, the Panthers have already added Brady Tkachuk and Garnet Hathaway this offseason, and are set to add Gudas if they can agree to a new contract.
Gudas, 36, is no stranger to being the bad guy. The 14-year veteran has been suspended for a total of 26 games throughout his career, the latest being a five-game punishment for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews this past March.
Additionally, Gudas is already familiar with the Panthers’ modus operandi, having played for the team from 2020-21 to 2022-23, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in his last season. Throughout that stretch, Gudas scored even goals and 44 points in 203 games with a +47 rating, throwing 917 hits and blocking 314 shots. Although he’s largely a bottom-pairing defenseman at this point in his career, he’ll make Florida that much harder to play against, at the very least.
Meanwhile, Greer isn’t unfamiliar with the nastier side of the game himself. Furthermore, he’s coming off the best offensive output of his professional career. Gaining access to more playing time this past season due to the number of injuries that Florida faced, Greer finished the 2025-26 season with 17 goals and 32 points in 78 games with a +14 rating, delivering 203 hits.
Still, it’s important to mention that Greer doesn’t have a long track record of success and may regress to his previous production if he’s unable to find a home in Anaheim’s middle-six. However, his physicality alone should make him a decent option for the Ducks.
The only two forwards on the team that totalled more than 100 hits last season were Ross Johnston and Jansen Harkins, both of whom are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on Wednesday. Greer is objectively an upgrade on them, even if he doesn’t match his offensive output from this past season.
Panthers Haven't Ruled Out Re-Signing Bobrovsky
- Less than 72 hours before the start of free agency, the Panthers are still searching for both ends of their goaltending tandem for next season with Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov both pending unrestricted free agents. While providing an overview of Florida’s options between the pipes, Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald relays that the team hasn’t given up hope on re-signing Bobrovsky yet. The 37-year-old is believed to be seeking a long-term deal, something that doesn’t seem feasible given that he’s coming off a rough season. It could be a case where both sides could benefit from Bobrovsky testing the open market, then circling back when the potential offers are more certain.
Panthers Acquire Garnet Hathaway
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Florida Panthers are acquiring Garnet Hathaway, per a team announcement.
Along with Hathaway, the Panthers bring in a sixth-round pick in 2026, going back to Philadelphia are two draft picks: a fifth-round pick in 2026 and a 2027 fourth-round pick.
The Flyers will retain 50% of Hatahway’s $2.4MM cap hit. As a result of this, the Panthers will only pay Hathaway $1.2MM in 2026-27 for his age 34 season, making him the 12th highest paid forward on the Panthers and the fourth-line replacement of A.J. Greer, who, according to Pierre LeBrun, is headed to free agency on July 1. After trading four draft picks for Brady Tkachuk from Ottawa, the Panthers keep up the trend of reloading by bringing in physical forwards with seasoned experience who can help them win now.
Hathaway, 34, skated in 66 games with Philadelphia in 2025-26. He scored three points and led the Flyers with 252 hits, the ninth most among all NHL skaters last season. He was also the Flyers’ nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy and scored two points in eight Stanley Cup Playoff games. The Naples, Florida native ends his career in Philadelphia with 18 goals, 23 assists, and 41 points in 215 games, the second-most he’s played with any team in his 11-year NHL career.
This will be Hathaway’s final season of a two-year deal signed by the Flyers back in 2025-26, which will earn him a total of $4.8MM in total salary. The Panthers now have just around $5.8MM in cap space to use towards free agency while they still evaluate the need for an NHL serviceable goaltender. Considering they have all roster spots ideally filled in, it would appear that, along with Greer, Vinnie Hinostroza, Tomas Nosek, Luke Kunin, and Noah Gregor are among the names likely to find new squads to play for, while GM Bill Zito continues his pursuit of getting his squad’s final need filled in.
The end of that two-year deal will be his sixth contract across his NHL tenure, spending his first three with the Calgary Flames from 2015 to 2019, signing league minimum deals for no more than two years at a time up until July 1st, 2019. In his first year of unrestricted free agency, he inked a four-year, $6MM ($1.5MM AAV) deal with the Washington Capitals, where he spent all four seasons until the 2022-23 deadline, when the record-breaking 65-win Boston Bruins acquired his services. After that season, Hathaway signed in Philadelphia, where he provided veteran leadership early on and decent production, but in 2025-26, his decline in production led to him falling back in the depth chart with Philadelphia’s young talent moving up the food chain.
As for the Flyers, this continues a trend they’ve been in dating back to last year’s playoff push, in the offloading of forwards they didn’t see fit for the future. Dating back to last season’s trade deadline, they sent Bobby Brink to Minnesota, Nicolas Deslauriers to Carolina, and now Hathaway to Florida, all to free up around $5MM to their now $33.6MM in cap space for this summer.
Most importantly for the Flyers’ to-do list, it includes their restricted free agents in need of contract extensions in forwards Trevor Zegras, Nikita Grebenkin, and Jamie Drysdale. All of whom acquired from outside the organization have come in and proven worthy as part of the future in Philadelphia.
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Panthers Haven't Closed Door On Extending Sergei Bobrovsky
- According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, General Manager Bill Zito hasn’t closed the door on signing netminder Sergei Bobrovsky to one last contract. Florida is in a similar situation to last offseason, when they were set to lose one of three key players in Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, or Aaron Ekblad. Somehow, the Panthers managed to keep all three. However, the situation is far different with Bobrovsky, who is nearly 38 years old, coming off the worst season of his professional career, and is reportedly seeking a six- to seven-year deal in the $42MM range.
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Panthers’ A.J. Greer Intends To Hit Open Market
This year’s free agent market could be rife with impactful, veteran, depth forwards. Top of the list oculd be Florida Panthers winger A.J. Greer who intends to reach the open market this summer per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Greer is coming off the highest-scoring season of his NHL career, marked by 17 goals and 32 points in 78 games. He once again crested the century mark in penalty minutes as well – with 113 – marking his third season in the last four years reaching that mark.
Greer will represent a true bruiser on the open market. He led the Panthers with 203 hits this season, over 60 more than Jesper Boqvist in second place. That has long been the presence that Greer brings to the lineup – and what has kept him at the NHL level despite failing to surpass 20 points in any of his prior three full seasons in the league. He found a small burst of scoring with the Panthers, setting a career-high 17 points in 81 games during the 2024-25 season, then nearly doubling that performance thanks to an elevated lineup role and a 16.3 shooting percentage this season.
Interested teams shouldn’t expect that scoring to stick around, though. Through his career, Greer has averaged 20 points, 113 penalty minutes, and 176 hits per 82 games played – while averaging under 10 minutes of ice time each night. He will likely settle into a similar role wherever he heads next, and should command the associated cost – though Greer could also represent a tinge of interesting upside after a career-year in Florida.
The Panthers Next Move After Brady Tkachuk: Address Goaltending
The Florida Panthers shook the NHL yesterday.
When it was believed that their big move on Sunday, June 21, would be sending Mackie Samoskevich to Seattle for the 25th overall pick in 2026, they took that draft pick, plus their own ninth selection, and a few hours later, packaged more picks to acquire Matthew Tkachuk‘s brother, Brady Tkachuk.
The Panthers, who originally entered the offseason with $15.7MM in cap space to work with, now have around a little above $7MM in cap space this summer after assembling arguably the NHL’s most stacked forward group it will see next year. Despite having that intrigue, as well as a solidified veteran defensive corps, Florida remains without a goaltender between the pipes to start the 2026-27 season. Both 37-year-old Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov are set to hit the free agent market on July 1st. If those options aren’t in the cards for Florida, they need to look elsewhere, and they have a few avenues to go down.
The Big Fish: Connor Hellebuyck
Brady was one way Florida elevated themselves in a reboot back after ending this past season out of the playoffs, but how to replace the stellar goaltending Sergei Bobrovsky used to provide? Connor Hellebuyck would check those boxes. The 32-year-old is the third-highest-paid No. 1 goaltender in the NHL. That doesn’t come without reason. The three-time Vezina trophy winner as the league’s best goaltender, and 2024-25 league MVP, makes $8.5MM per season and will earn $59.5MM by the time he’s 38 years old in 2031. It would require a contract dealt away to make this happen.
He posted a 2.86 goals against average and a 0.895 save percentage, the SV% chalking up to the worst of his 11-year NHL career. After three consecutive seasons of 30+ goals saved above expected, he ended 2025-26 stopping -0.3, his worst in that category since 2016-17. All of this culminated in a 23-23-11 record in 57 games started for the Jets.
At the Jets’ end-of-season press conference, he had expressed that the Cup was the only milestone missing from his resume, which might not be attainable in Winnipeg. Plus, added seasoning from Chris Johnston of TSN, who said teams are calling based on his disappointment, signs could be pointing to Hellebuyck packing his bags away from the Jets, who ended with a 35-35-12 record, good for 7th in the Central Division after eight playoff appearances in the last ten seasons. In a year where he won a gold medal with the USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, a triumph that saw a dropoff from being a part of the league’s best team for the President’s Trophy just a year ago, and was three wins away from a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2018, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’d want to be back in that window.
Low-risk change of scenery
If the Panthers want to stay within their cap space and not spend all the way up to $7MM, they’re going to have to get cute and maybe take a chance on a goalie with a lesser pedigree.
A few names have been circling the goalie trade market that Florida could consider dealing for. New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom could potentially be available out of the Devils, according to Kevin Weekes of NHL Network. The 31-year-old is entering a two-year, $12MM ($6MM AAV) deal and could use a change of scenery from a 3.07 goals-against average and .883 save percentage campaign in 44 games. Perhaps former 2019 Stanley Cup Champion Jordan Binnington, who enters the last year of a six-year, $6MM AAV contract at age 32 with the Blues, would suffice for the regular season and shine in the big moments of playoff hockey. How about a gamble with the Red Wings on 23-year-old Sebastian Cossa? Despite a late-season fall-off in the AHL, he could present as a low-risk, high-reward pickup considering his status as a former first-round pick from 2021.
Free Agency
If all comes to pass, GM Bill Zito could always just sign a free agent he sees fit for the team. This is also where you could find a budget baller in between your pipes for this season and beyond.
Maybe 27-year-old Stuart Skinner wants to be a cup-contending goalie again. The former Oilers goaltender lost twice to Florida in the finals, but if you can’t beat them, why not join them? If that doesn’t come to pass, Frederik Andersen might want to stay in the warmth of the American southeast. If the reigning Cup champs in Carolina don’t have him back, Florida would enjoy his services of a .910 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average in 16 playoff games, replicated if possible. That’s just two of 14 goaltenders available, where none aside from former Panther Bobrovsky, made above $5MM last season; those guys would ideally consider Sunrise as a great destination if the Panthers were to call.
Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Panthers Acquire Brady Tkachuk
An absolute blockbuster has taken place as the Florida Panthers have acquired Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. The inner-divisional trade has been confirmed by Florida and Ottawa.
In exchange for the face of their franchise, Ottawa takes both the ninth and 25th overall selections in this Friday’s draft, along with another first-rounder in 2029, and finally a second-round pick in 2027. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reports that the 2029 first-round selection carries top-10 protection. The return is entirely draft capital, meaning the club is slated for three top selections in Buffalo shortly; 9th, 25th, and 32nd. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Sens weren’t always intent on such a futures-focused package, trying to bring back Anton Lundell, whom Florida didn’t budge on.
Finally with an end to the saga which has dragged on for some time, finding a new home for the 26-year-old star who was rumored to be wanting out for the last two years, they also shed his $8.2MM cap hit, giving general manager Steve Staios around $25MM in cap space to work with on a team still intent on contention in 2026-27. As his contract expires in two years, if Tkachuk was to reluctantly stay in Canada’s capital city, the noise would have only kept rising all while his trade value diminished.
For the Panthers, their trade of Mackie Samoskevich earlier today netted the 25th overall pick from Seattle, thought to be a bargaining chip of some capacity. Few would have anticipated it to come into play just hours later in a deal of this magnitude. Having a top 10 selection at the podium one summer after their back-to-back Stanley Cups was never the plan, but it became a huge asset. Rather than drafting a prospect who would need a few years to make an impact, they’ve gone out and gotten who very well could be the biggest name they possibly could have acquired, uniting the elite 6’4″ winger with his brother, Matthew.
Since being drafted fourth overall by the Sens in 2018, Tkachuk has risen into one of the game’s premier power forwards. Always bringing relentless physical traits and net-front abilities, he broke out in 2022-23 surpassing the point-per-game mark for the first time with 83 points in 82 games. The output showcased his flourishing play-driving capability, far more than just a net-front presence who bangs home rebounds. Things haven’t come so easily since then, not meeting the 80-point mark since, and playing in 60 regular season contests as a result of a wrist injury in October. Even then, he came away from the past season with 59 points as a player already right among the NHL’s best, and still having yet to reach his full potential.
In the playoffs the Senators went out quietly to the eventual champion Carolina Hurricanes, but even if Tkachuk was not filling the score sheet due to his ailments, he still couldn’t be missed, dropping the mitts with Jordan Staal off the opening face-off of the series.
There are plenty of parallels with his brother, the duo able to affect the game in similar ways. Still, Brady is different from Matthew in that he’s more of a shoot-first, straight-line player. Always a wild possibility to imagine them able to play together, like they have done for Team USA in the past, highlighted by the unforgettable gold medal win over Team Canada, Zito has pulled it off. Decimating his draft assets when it’s already very thin in their farm system, imagining the duo wreaking havoc across the Atlantic Division, along with Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand, to go with healthy stars in Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, Florida fans will be happy to worry about prospect rankings some time later. With the Tkachuks set to play together on a daily basis now, rather than just on the international circuit, they’ll make an impact reminiscent of Daniel and Henrik Sedin of the last era.
Content to finally move on from what was a distraction in Ottawa throughout 2025-26 and even before that, there was still little warning that the deal would materialize so early in the summer. Less than two months ago in his end-of-season press conference, Tkachuk shot down trade rumors, speaking to his commitment to the team, and saying the speculation was “getting frustrating”. It turns out that was not so much the case, as LeBrun reported that he ultimately had four teams on a list, wanting to join his brother as the #1 most favorable scenario, with Minnesota, Carolina, and Vegas also in the mix.
In terms of the Wild, known to be big-game hunting this summer, Michael Russo of The Athletic confirmed Minnesota’s efforts to acquire Tkachuk, no stranger to league-shaking deals after their trade for Quinn Hughes. Russo says that they made a “huge offer” but Brady’s preference to play with his brother, of whom he co-hosts a podcast titled “Wingmen” with, was too much to pass up. Regardless of any long-term ramifications, Florida swooped in to make it happen, and they’ll be serious contenders for a third title in the next few years.
Left over with just over $7MM of cap space, Zito’s Panthers figure to be out of the running for fellow gold medalists they’d been linked to in Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck. Besides minor signings to round out depth, there’s still one big item on their checklist; goaltending. Both Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov are set to hit the open market on July 1. Between re-upping the 37-year-old Bobrovsky or shopping for someone new like Stuart Skinner, today’s trade for Tkachuk limits them to more mundane options. Now that they’re more thin on the cap front, the best option could be trying to get Bobrovsky on a team-friendly deal and hoping he has what it takes to backstop the high flying team while approaching age 40. All that to say, if there’s one possible weakness that stands out on Florida’s roster going into 2026-27, it’s between the pipes.
Based on the situation which has some resemblance to Calgary’s difficulty in retaining Matthew four years ago, before his own trade to the Sunshine State, Ottawa finds themselves with a haul of draft picks and plenty of time to figure out how to proceed. Most advantageous from the assets they got is the flexibility in what comes next, opposite to what the Flames brought on for Brady’s brother. The trade return looks like the first step of a tear-down, but the Sens will do no such thing, with a forward corps led by Tim Stutzle which is still intact for another season. Boasting two premier defensemen in Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, Ottawa is thought to be needing a top-four righty. They’re in luck with abundant options to choose from, but now with a massive hole in their top six and plenty of cap room, one has to wonder if the Senators will make a run at free agent Alex Tuch, or leverage their draft capital to seek out a Tkachuk-esque replacement elsewhere on the trade market.
The Panthers hardly had a shot to defend their back-to-back Stanley Cups this past season, losing Barkov on a devastating knee injury before the puck even dropped on opening night. Dealing with several more issues and never able to ice a lineup anywhere near full strength, the struggles paved the way for the addition of another superstar, as the Tkachuks will be must-watch for years to come.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun broke the news that the deal was close, while Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to officially confirm the trade.
Image Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images and Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Kraken Acquire Mackie Samoskevich
The Kraken have acquired winger Mackie Samoskevich from the Panthers. Seattle is sending the 25th overall pick in this year’s draft plus a conditional second-rounder in 2027 the other way.
Both Seattle and Florida have confirmed the deal. The conditions on the 2027 second round pick are simple; Florida will obtain whichever selection, originally owned by Winnipeg or Columbus, ends up higher.
Samoskevich has been a target of Seattle GM Jason Botterill‘s for months. The Kraken made a push to acquire him from Florida at the trade deadline with the Cats out of the playoff picture, but they weren’t able to get a deal done in time. Now, with Florida set to bring in a blue-chip prospect with this year’s ninth overall pick and Samoskevich needing a new contract this summer as a restricted free agent, the Panthers have decided they’re more amenable now to moving on.
Chosen by the Panthers 24th overall in 2021, the 23-year-old was unable to advance into a top-six role, but still provided scoring depth with 15 and 12 goals over the past two seasons respectively. In a season where injuries ravaged their forward group, the door was wide open for Samoskevich to take on more and solidify himself into the team’s plans, but it didn’t happen. A slight uptick in his ice time, up to 14:28, did not yield any more offensive production, coming away with a stat line effectively the same. Samoskevich’s shooting percentage regressed to 7.5%, with strings of bad luck at times. He was well-sheltered in 2024-25 with just shy of 60% of his shifts at five-on-five starting on the attack, a number which dipped to 52.1% this past season, facing more of a challenge.
With Florida GM Bill Zito punting on one of very few young players with any meaningful upside in their organization, it raises questions on what comes next. Taking back 25th overall, the exact range where they were able to find the talented youngster, the Panthers could benefit from a selection to supplement what is widely regarded as one of the most barren prospect cupboards in the league, natural considering their multiple Stanley Cups in previous years. On the other hand, they’ve already been linked to Dylan Larkin as well as Connor Hellebuyck, and they just added two more trade chips to try and make a splash to jump right back into contention. The lost 2025-26 season already gave them 9th overall in this Friday’s draft, and suddenly the Panthers are the eighth club to have multiple first rounders on hand.
With Samoskevich off the board, they now have no notable restricted free agents to deal with, leaving just over $15.2MM, plenty to figure out their goaltending situation and replace Samoskevich’s role with a cost-effective veteran. A nice find as a late first-rounder, the winger is the exact type of young player who can help a Cup-winning team thin on cap room sustain success, but in other instances it can hold them back from reaching their full potential, prompting a trade like this afternoon’s.
For Seattle, a 25th overall pick which was originally acquired last spring from Tampa Bay as part of the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand deal hardly had as much use. Known as sorely needing more firepower this summer, Samoskevich’s 32 points last season didn’t jump off the page, but he’ll still be just 23 debuting for the Kraken next fall. Before that can happen they’ll have to agree on a new contract, but a two-year bridge deal around $3MM per season is extremely doable. The Connecticut native was college teammates with Matty Beniers at Michigan, now coming in as a nice young piece who already has a Stanley Cup, experience massive for any young player to get to soak up from the background.
Likely to receive a top-six role pretty much immediately, the elite-skating righty with an excellent release should have more room to roam free and unlock more offense. Having to take a back seat behind the Panthers’ elite veterans allowed Samoskevich to form a nice two-way game in the middle-six, but Seattle is banking on him to be much more than that, based on what they surrendered today. While today’s trade return was a steep price, he has every trait needed to break out next season to surpass the 20-goal-mark and become a true top six threat for years to come, on a team which flat out needs more excitement up front.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta was the first to break the deal, while Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman provided the exact details.
Image Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Pro Hockey Rumors’ Bradley Keith contributed significantly to this article.
The Common Denominator Among Elite Teams
The NHL has long been a copycat league, as every offseason teams look at the organizations that had the most on-ice success and ask themselves, “What do they have that we don’t?” Now, as the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights compete in the Stanley Cup Finals, there appear to be glaring differences between their rosters, given that they took different paths to build them. While the Hurricanes have relied on drafting and development, using free agency and trades to supplement their homegrown talent, the Golden Knights have been aggressive in free agency and on the trade market, using future assets to grab talent that helped them win immediately. As glaring as their differences are, there is one obvious similarity, and that is that both teams have avoided handing out disastrous contracts, and it’s clearly a big reason why they are where they are.
Sure, you can point to the elite players, fantastic coaching, and strong drafting and development, but those factors are buoyed by the fact that both Carolina and Vegas have spent relatively wisely as it pertains to the salary cap. In fact, if you look back at all four conference finalists, there aren’t many albatross contracts to be found. The Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens have a couple of tough cap hits in Josh Anderson of the Habs and Ross Colton of the Avalanche, but both men have just one year left on their respective deals, at a $4MM AAV for Colton and $5.5MM for Anderson. Carolina also has a problematic contract in Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but the remainder of his deal can be bought this summer for 1/3 of the cost because of his age.
Even going back to last season, when the final four featured the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, and Dallas Stars — those teams had relatively efficient salary cap structures, with their highest-paid players generally performing at or above the value of their cap hits, allowing management to build deeper rosters around them.
If you look at Edmonton as an example, they have quite a few bad contracts on the books now and have taken on arguably two of the worst contracts in the last 12 months, signing Trent Frederic to an eight-year deal and trading for what is left of goaltender Tristan Jarry’s albatross of a deal. Those poor contracts hurt the Oilers this season and could become very problematic going forward if Edmonton can’t find a way to navigate them.
It’s been a long-standing issue in the NHL, as countless teams have signed bad contracts that killed their contention window. The Pittsburgh Penguins likely shut the door on their window of contention eight years ago when they signed defenseman Jack Johnson in free agency and, the following season, traded for Erik Gudbranson. That left the Penguins paying two of the worst defensemen in the league north of $7MM combined during the 2018-19 season, before they were promptly swept in the first round by the New York Islanders.
Those bad contracts in the $3MM-$5MM add up over time, especially if you pile a few of them onto your ledger. In a hard cap league, every dollar matters, and the teams contending this season know that and have been keenly aware of how not to spend cap dollars. A $4MM cap hit tied up in an underperforming veteran isn’t horrible in a vacuum, but two of them could be a top-four defenseman, or a top-six winger, or even a second-line center.
The Hurricanes have long been accused of not spending big money, but the truth is that the team has avoided many long-term mistakes. Their core players, who were drafted and/or developed in the organization, are well compensated but still provide surplus value. Sebastian Aho remains a legitimate first-line center and is making just $9.75MM long term. Andrei Svechnikov continues to be a top-six impact winger at just $7.75MM per season. Both men remain on the right side of 30, continuing Carolina’s tradition of regularly paying players based on future value rather than past performance.
The Golden Knights have always been spenders during their short existence, but they, too, have paid for future performance and haven’t been shy about trading away popular players if it means freeing up cap space to improve the team. The team had no issue dumping goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury just a year after he won the Vezina Trophy. Fleury was beloved in Vegas, but the team was in the game of paying for future production and saw the writing on the wall with his play.
Hockey fans like to point to Vegas’ hidden competitive advantage, but the truth is that their advantage has been not handing out disastrous long-term contracts. And while every contract they have isn’t a bargain, no one is significantly underperforming relative to their cap hit, showing that championship teams are often built by avoiding big mistakes, coupled with making solid moves.
Over the next few weeks, nearly every general manager who did not win the cup will make a rash decision, justifying it by saying their team is one move away from being a contender. Some of these GMs will be praised for winning the summer, convincing themselves that the big-money contract was necessary to elevate the club. And while not every UFA signing will be a disaster, some teams will get into bidding wars and sign a player to a contract that will be bought out by their successor. But that is the price of giving top money to the wrong players, and it’s something the best teams in the NHL have managed to avoid.
Panthers And Penguins Swap Oliver Okuliar And Emil Pieniniemi
June 15th: Pittsburgh has moved quickly in signing its newest player. According to a team announcement, the Penguins have signed Okuliar to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2026-27 season. PuckPedia followed up on the announcement, revealing that Okuliar would earn an $850K salary at the NHL level and $350K in the AHL, with $425K guaranteed.
June 13th: The Penguins and Panthers have made a swap of minor leaguers. Florida has acquired defenseman Emil Pieniniemi from Pittsburgh in exchange for the rights to forward Oliver Okuliar. Both teams have announced the swap.
Pieniniemi’s first season in the pros was a rocky one, to put it lightly. Assigned to the ECHL in October, the 21-year-old refused to report and was suspended indefinitely at the time. After more than two months, he ultimately changed his mind and got into 26 games with Wheeling during the regular season, where he had six goals and five assists. He also chipped in with eight points in 15 playoff contests.
Pieniniemi, a third-round pick in 2023, also got into nine AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, picking up a goal and two assists. He has two seasons left on his entry-level contract, with a cap hit of just under $907K.
As for Okuliar, the winger signed a two-way deal as an undrafted free agent with Florida back in 2024 but played exclusively in the AHL. Despite a strong showing there where he had 19 goals and 22 assists along with 119 penalty minutes in 69 games with Charlotte, he opted to return overseas, signing a two-year deal with SHL Skelleftea.
This season, the 26-year-old played in 46 games in his first taste of that league, picking up 15 goals and 14 assists while adding 13 points in 15 postseason appearances. Okuliar also suited up internationally for Slovakia at both the Olympics and World Championships. He has one year of team control remaining as a restricted free agent.
Given how things transpired between the Penguins and Pieniniemi this season, it’s not overly surprising that the organization has decided to part ways with him. With the swap, Florida picks up a prospect for an asset that likely was going to be relinquished for free next summer. It will be interesting to see if Okuliar’s deal has an NHL out clause to see if Pittsburgh wants to bring him back to North America or if his inclusion is just a different form of future considerations.