Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR is looking at every NHL team and giving a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Atlantic Division, next up is the Canadiens.
Florida Panthers
Current Cap Hit: $87,250,999 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Mackie Samoskevich (one year, $925K)
Potential Bonuses
None
This is Samoskevich’s first full NHL season (aside from a brief cap-related stint in the minors). He’s holding down a regular spot in the bottom six but players in that role can’t command a long-term second contract. A two-year bridge deal in the $1.5MM to $1.75MM range feels like the right fit for him.
Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level
F Sam Bennett ($4.425MM, UFA)
F Jesper Boqvist ($775K, RFA)
D Aaron Ekblad ($7.5MM, UFA)
F Tomas Nosek ($775K, UFA)
D Nate Schmidt ($800K, UFA)
Bennett is arguably Florida’s biggest decision to make when it comes to their upcoming free agents. He’s on pace for a career year offensively which certainly doesn’t hurt his cause but that’s only a part of his game. After splitting time at center and the wing in Calgary, he has become a full-time middleman with the Panthers. And, of course, his physicality makes him stand out at a position that doesn’t have a lot of power forwards. Bennett will hit the open market at 29 so a long-term deal will carry some risk but that’s unlikely to act as a deterrent for a lot of teams. If he signs elsewhere, a max-term seven-year agreement isn’t out of the question while adding at least $2MM to his current price tag.
Boqvist has rebounded nicely after a tough year in Boston that saw him get non-tendered. He already has set a new benchmark in goals and is close to matching his career high in points. That could allow him to double his current price tag with arbitration rights but that eligibility could work against him if the Panthers need to keep their end-of-roster spots at or near the league minimum. Nosek has largely stayed healthy this year which helps but he’s not as impactful at the faceoff dot as he used to be while his production is quite limited. A small raise could happen but if Florida wants to keep him, it wouldn’t be shocking if they tried to bring him back at the minimum.
Ekblad is the other free agent of significance that GM Bill Zito will need to try to re-sign. The 29-year-old has been an anchor on their back end for 11 years already after being the top pick in 2014. He hasn’t been able to get back to the top offensive level of a few years ago but he’s still a top-pairing, right-shot blueliner. A big raise might not be likely as the contract will have some of his declining years but a near max-term deal around this price point could be doable. Schmidt quickly caught on with the Panthers after Winnipeg bought him out and he has held down a spot on the third pairing. If a team still views him as a second-pairing piece, he could get back into the $2.5MM range or so but if he’s valued in a fifth or sixth role, his market value might be closer to $2MM.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Uvis Balinskis ($850K, UFA)
G Sergei Bobrovsky ($10MM, UFA)
F Jonah Gadjovich ($775K, UFA)
F A.J. Greer ($850K, UFA)
G Spencer Knight ($4.5MM, RFA)
D Niko Mikkola ($2.5MM, UFA)
Greer has become a capable fourth line energy winger in recent years but doesn’t provide much offense to go along with that which limits his market to a point. Still, now that he’s a bit more proven in that role, he could make a case to push past $1MM on his next deal. Gadjovich has had to take a minor league deal before and with the limited role he has, he’s quite likely to stay at the minimum moving forward.
Mikkola has been counted on more since joining Florida, playing regularly in their top four while playing more of a throwback shutdown role. While he’s not much of a point producer, his defensive play and physicality should give him a much stronger market in 2026 which could push his cost past $4MM per season. Balinskis is Florida’s sixth defender and has even played up front a bit. His limited playing time will likely keep him viewed as a sixth or seventh blueliner which will probably keep him at least close to this price tag.
Bobrovsky has been hit or miss throughout his tenure in Florida with last season being one of the high points. But he’s the highest-paid active netminder in the league (until next season) and that type of volatility isn’t the most ideal. Notably, Bobrovsky will be entering his age-38-year on his next deal. If he’s still a full-fledged starter then, he could land around $6MM or so but a lot could change between now and then. Knight, meanwhile, is back up after spending last year in the minors, hardly great value for his price tag. He’s done well so far and is starting to make a push for more playing time. Florida’s hope will be that he can be their starter of the future and the limited action the last two years might keep the cost a little lower. Still, he’ll be owed a $4.5MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights so if the Panthers want to keep him around, it will likely cost $5MM to do so, more if he’s the full-fledged starter by then.
Signed Through 2026-27
F Eetu Luostarinen ($3MM, UFA)
F Evan Rodrigues ($3MM, UFA)
After his run through free agency in 2022 didn’t go as planned, Rodrigues jumped at the stability of a four-year offer from Florida the following summer, one that looked pretty team-friendly then and that hasn’t changed. A versatile player who can play up and down the lineup for this price is a good deal. Rodrigues should be able to command more on the open market next time out but there was a case for that to happen on his last two trips on the open market too. Luostarinen has worked his way up the depth chart which helped secure this extension last season. If he can get back to being a 40-point player as he was a couple of years back, he could add another million or so on his next deal. If not, the raise could be a bit smaller for him.
Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer
F Aleksander Barkov ($10MM through 2029-30)
D Gustav Forsling ($5.75MM through 2031-32)
D Dmitry Kulikov ($1.15MM through 2027-28)
F Anton Lundell ($5MM through 2029-30)
F Sam Reinhart ($8.625MM through 2031-32)
F Matthew Tkachuk ($9.5MM through 2029-30)
F Carter Verhaeghe ($4.167MM in 2024-25, $7MM from 2025-26 through 2032-33)
For years, Barkov was viewed as arguably the most underrated top center in the NHL while being one of the more underpaid number one middlemen as well. Both of those have since changed as Barkov is now much more recognized for his contributions while his salary is now in the upper echelon league-wide which better reflects what he brings to the table. He very quietly is averaging over a point per game for the fifth straight season and that, coupled with his strong defensive play (he’s the reigning Selke Trophy winner) makes him the total package for a top center. It’s hard to say that a $10MM price tag is a bargain but if nothing else, the Panthers are getting a strong return on their investment thus far.
The Panthers made a big commitment to Tkachuk after trading two core players (Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar), one that carried some risk. But it has worked out quite well for them as he had a career year in his first season and has still been over a point per game since then. He’s one of the top wingers in the league locked up at a reasonable price tag for several more years. Reinhart had a breakout year last season which earned him the long-term security he had been coveting going back to his days with Buffalo. While repeating 57 goals was unlikely, if he can be a consistent 40-goal scorer even, they’ll do just fine with this contract. He’s on his way to hitting that mark this season.
Verhaeghe has gone from being a castaway with a couple of organizations to a legitimate top-six winger in Florida, capped with back-to-back years of more than 70 points before this season. That helped him earn this early-season extension, a fair price tag for someone who has become one of their better scorers. In the meantime, he’s getting high-end third-line money (or low-end second-line) on his current deal, one of the better bargains they’ve had. Lundell’s offense hasn’t come around as much as Florida might have hoped by now but he’s on pace for a career year this season and remains one of their stronger defensive players. In the new cap environment that’s coming, this is higher-end third-line money and Lundell is already at that level with the belief there’s another gear for him to find. This contract should age quite well.
Forsling has been one of the top NHL waiver claims in recent memory, going from largely being an afterthought to a top-pairing defender. He’s not a high-end point producer which limited his negotiating power to an extent last year when this contract was signed but any time you can get a top-pairing piece locked up for less than $6MM, they’ll happily take it. Kulikov opted for long-term stability, signing this four-year deal at 33. In doing so, he signed for the rate of a depth defender, giving the Panthers some good value on the cap, even as his role likely decreases as the deal goes on.
Buyouts
D Keith Yandle ($1.242MM in 2024-25)
Retained Salary Transactions
None
Best Value: (non-entry-level) Verhaeghe (this season)
Worst Value: Bobrovsky
Looking Ahead
The Panthers are carrying close to a minimum-sized roster, allowing them to bank a bit of cap room; they can spend around $3.5MM at the deadline in full-season salary as things stand. That’s enough to add a depth option or two but they’ll have to get creative to add an impact piece. Still, that’s more flexibility than a few other contenders have.
The $7.5MM jump in the cap next season gives Florida a chance to keep both Bennett and Ekblad or give them enough flexibility to sign a replacement. Keeping the full core or close to it intact is a great sign for them. Then in the 2026 summer, they currently project to have more than $50MM in cap room and while that will go down with new deals for Bennett and/or Ekblad, they’ll still have a lot of wiggle room to potentially add to that core group. For as tight as they’ve been to the Upper Limit lately, the Panthers are in solid shape on the cap front moving forward.
Photos courtesy of Imagn Images.
These max deals are killing teams bottom line, And the overwhelming majority of them are toxic, After a couple of year’s. These GMs have to wise up!!!!
And obviously haven’t been, at any point in the cap era. But think about it: why should they? Take this coming off-season: what’s Lou Lamoriello’s incentive in NOT signing anyone he can to max term? He isn’t going to LIVE long enough to eat those contracts, let alone be the GM of anything.
Alright, he’s the only 80+ year old GM in big league sports, but even so. The average GM doesn’t give a damn about seven years from now: he doesn’t produce the goods, he’s out of work in two.
As a Cats fan, I am definitely leaning toward “Keep Bennet, let Ekblad walk”. Ekblad is good enough, but for the money, I think the team could upgrade.
Goaltending is going to be a pain point now and in the future – they made the Cup Final twice in a row largely in spite of, not because of, Bobrovsky. He’s a bona fide star when he’s “on”, but sometimes he’s decidedly not “on” and will post a .775 performance.
As much as I love Bennett he might have to walk as Lundell is the next in line and will come cheaper . Unless he takes too third line centre money . If he is looking for mid second then the money would be better spent on D as it is a bit of an eye sore right now that the top nine forwards are making up for with how well most of them play defensively in all three zones .