Photo: Daily Faceoff
The Florida Panthers advanced to their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final on Saturday after the team failed to make it past the third round in each of the previous 26 seasons. They were on the rise before their breakout last Spring but made some key moves to put them over the top. While the job is not done yet, Florida has been the class of the Eastern Conference for quite some time, and it may be time to look at what they have done to build their roster. NoVa Caps looks at Florida’s key roster transactions under GM Bill Zito:
2020-21 Season
- Signed LW Carter Verhaeghe to two-year contract ($1 million cap hit)
After Verhaghe notched nine goals and 13 points in 52 games during his rookie season, Florida signed him to a low-risk, high-reward contract. It paid off right off of the bat as Verhaeghe scored 18 goals and 36 points in 43 outings over his first season in Florida and has improved in each of his four seasons there. After scoring 42 goals in 2022-23, the 28-year-old finished with a career-high .947 points-per-game average (34-38-72 in 76) this season. Verhaeghe, who signed a three-year contract extension ($4,166,667 cap hit) the first day he was eligible to, has 22 goals and 46 points in 48 postseason games since 2022.
- Claimed D Gustav Forsling off of waivers from Carolina Hurricanes
With Carolina boasting a lot of defensive depth, they waived Forsling, who has tallied at least 10 goals and 37 points in each of the past three seasons. He also has a +133 rating since joining Florida, including a league-leading +56 this past year. Forsling has not tallied a Corsi-for percentage lower than .5315 (.5565 in the past three) and an expected goals-for percentage below .5188 (finished higher than .5465 in three of his four seasons in Florida) at five-on-five over his tenure in Sunrise. The 27-year-old has averaged 22:48 per game (second among Panthers defensemen), including 57 seconds on the power play (fourth) and a team-leading 3:11 on the penalty kill.
- Traded LW Emil Heineman, 2022 61st overall pick to Calgary Flames for C Sam Bennett
A change of scenery did wonders for Bennett as he tallied six goals and 15 points in 10 regular-season games to finish the season post-trade. He has finished each of the past three seasons with more than 15 goals and 40 points, respectively, and missed at least 11 games in each of them.
Bennett has 13 goals and 33 points in 47 postseason games with Florida, including 11 and 25 over the past two seasons.
Meanwhile, Heinenman has yet to make his NHL debut in Calgary.
- Traded 2021 88th overall pick to Buffalo Sabres for D Brandon Montour
Montour saw his five-on-five expected goals-for percentage skyrocket from .4433 pre-trade to .5952 post that season. He ultimately earned a three-year contract extension ($3.5 million cap hit) before he became eligible to hit the unrestricted free agent market.
Over the past three seasons, Montour has earned 35 goals (including a career-high 16 in 2022-23), 143 points (73), +25 rating, .5177 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .508 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .5214 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 227 games. During Florida’s last two postseason runs, Montour has led the team with an average of 25:22 per game, including 4:04 on the power play (second), and has 11 goals and 22 points in 38 games.
2021-22 Season
- Traded G Devon Levi, 2022 28th overall pick to Buffalo for RW Sam Reinhart
Reinhart has surpassed 30 goals and 65 points in each of his three seasons in Florida, including a 57-goal, 94-point output in 2023-24. The pending unrestricted free agent has added 16 goals and 25 points in 38 postseason games over the past two seasons.
Levi has a .901 save percentage and 3.06 goals-against average in 30 games the past two years, and Florida appears to be set in net with Sergei Bobrovsky for now and Spencer Knight’s time eventually coming.
2022-23 Season
- Signed C Nick Cousins to two-year contract ($1 million cap hit)
The 30-year-old has 16 goals and 42 points in 148 regular-season games on top of the two goals and eight points in 32 postseason games since going to Florida. Cousins has been playing fourth-line minutes, posting a .5197 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage in the last two springs.
- Traded LW Jonathan Huberdeau, D MacKenzie Weegar, RW Cole Schwindt, conditional 2025 first-round pick to Calgary for LW Matthew Tkachuk
To find postseason success, Florida made the biggest blockbuster trade that the NHL has seen in years, acquiring a younger, grittier, productive Tkachuk (66-131-197 in 159 regular-season games, 16-27-43 and 103 hits in 37 postseason outings).
Meanwhile, Huberdeau has seen his production fall off of a cliff (27-80-107 in 160) in Calgary after leading the NHL in assists (85) and ranking second in points (115) during his final season in Florida. Weegar (24-59-83, .5724 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .5447 five-on-five expected-for percentage, and .5432 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage while averaging 22:01 per game – third among Flames defensemen, including 1:27 on the power play – fourth – and 1:57 while shorthanded – fifth) has fit right in and set career-highs in goals (20) and points (52) this past season.
Schwindt, 23, has appeared in just seven NHL games since the trade was executed.
2023-24 Season
- Signed C Evan Rodrigues to four-year contract ($3 million cap hit)
The 30-year-old tallied 12 goals, 39 points, and a .5 faceoff-winning percentage in 80 regular-season games before notching three goals and eight points through 17 postseason tilts thus far.
- Signed D Oliver Ekman-Larsson to one-year, $2.25 million contract
With Montour and Aaron Ekblad set to miss the start of the season on Florida’s backend, the team went out and got some insurance. While averaging 18:24 per game (fifth among Panthers defensemen), including 1:57 per game on the power play (second) and 1:28 on the penalty kill (fifth), Ekman-Larsson tallied nine goals, 32 points, a +10 rating, .5614 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .5433 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .553 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 80 regular-season games. The former Arizona Coyotes captain has added a goal and four points in the postseason, where he has averaged 15:14 per game (including 1:34 on the man advantage).
- Signed D Dmitry Kulikov to one-year, $1 million contract
While averaging 16:31 per game (seventh), including 2:14 on Florida’s penalty kill (fourth), in 76 regular-season games, the 33-year-old recorded a goal, 20 points, +15 rating, .5438 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .5347 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, .5407 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage, and an average of 6.93 hits-per-60 (third). Kulikov has recorded no points but a .5583 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage in the postseason.
- Signed D Niko Mikkola to one-year, $2.5 million contract
The 28-year-old, who averaged 20:02 per game (fourth), including 2:25 on the penalty kill (third), finished the regular season with three goals, 17 points, +11 rating, .5418 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .5251 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, .5373 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage, and a Panthers blueliners-leading average of 7.23 hits-per-60 (third). Mikkola has contributed a goal, three points, and a .5432 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage while averaging 18:52 per game, including 1:50 while shorthanded in the postseason.
- Traded D Calle Sjalin, 2024 seventh-round pick to Buffalo for RW Kyle Okposo
The 36-year-old, who is seeking his first Stanley Cup and a veteran of 1,051 NHL regular-season games, appeared in six regular-season contests post-trade before earning two assists in 11 postseason games.
Sjalin, the 145th pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, has been in the AHL for the past two seasons and has yet to make his NHL debut.
- Traded 2025 third-round pick to Ottawa Senators for LW Vladimir Tarasenko
After getting traded, the 32-year-old earned six goals and 14 points in 19 regular-season outings and three goals and six points in 17 postseason games. Tarasenko scored the goal that sent the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final in Game 6 against New York.
Key Takeaways
Florida was not having the same success they had in the regular season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs the first two years of Zito’s tenure, and the team changed their game from speed and skill to physical when they traded Huberdeau and Weegar for Tkachuk.
They have also taken a lot of low risks that have all worked out beautifully (Verhaeghe, Montour, Forsling). However, Florida will have to pay all those players big money shortly. Other teams can try to take the bargain-hunting approach, but there are no guarantees that they will pan out the way it has for Florida.
While teams can certainly learn from this blueprint, it may be easier said than done for most of them, especially the Washington Capitals. Washington’s core is in the twilight years and has almost certainly seen the last of Nicklas Backstrom, while Florida’s core of Tkachuk, Ekblad, Verhaghe, and Aleksander Barkov are all in the primes of their careers.
It also required a bit of luck — Tkachuk refused to sign long-term in Calgary and expressed a desire to go to Florida. Just because Washington has not won a postseason series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018, that does not mean that they should just go out and look to trade a Dylan Strome with the sole intention of making a change. Tkachuk is the type of player who is built for the postseason with his physicality and offensive prowess. It was a matter of the right fit at the right time, and Florida took advantage.
Any team, regardless of their current window, can look to how Florida padded up on defense in preparation for Ekblad and Montour missing substantial time to start the season and how much that has helped them. Florida finished the regular season with an NHL-low 2.41 goals-against per game and 2.29 in the postseason (the fewest among teams that advanced to the second round), and their work to bolster their backend is a big reason why.
Zito’s moves to tinker with an already very talented Panthers team when he arrived has turned them from a bubble team to one of the league’s premier squads. After Florida advanced to its second straight Stanley Cup Final, teams will study Zito’s work as they attempt to overthrow Florida in the East or find the success that they have for teams in the West.
Florida’s success since last Spring is worth applauding from afar, but the franchise is still seeking its first Stanley Cup Championship. Will this be the year? It will be one hell of a final.
By Harrison Brown
