Florida Panthers Offseason Review

The Florida Panthers are not known for being quiet during the offseason. While PKayne didn’t pull the trigger on many significant trades, he still worked hard to get his team better for the upcoming season but also in the long run. Let’s take a look at (almost) everything he did this summer!

Trade Market

I’ve already talked about 2 of Panthers’ trades in my previous article so I won’t do it again in details but I’ll still mention that PKayne managed to trade Jonathan Huberdeau and his 3 x 10,000,000$ contract to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 4th round pick. That move helped PKayne re-signs some key players like Nathan MacKinnon, Tim Stützle and Cole Caufield to new contracts but it also allowed him to bring some new faces on the offensive side of the line-up. He also traded Adam Lowry’s rights for 2 draft picks.

But now, let’s talk about the other moves he made that we didn’t reviewed together before! Needing some offensive players with the departure of Huberdeau and Lowry, PKayne worked the phones a lot and end up reaching a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes to land 24-year-old forward Fabian Zetterlund. Still on a 2 x 2,000,000$ contract (and RFA after), Zetterlund will bring some offensive punch while having a reasonable AAV. His RFA status at the end was key in the deal too as PKayne wanted to pay for someone who could stay in the organization for a good amount of time. Needless to say he was really pleased with this acquisition.

The 3 other deals PKayne made in the offseason were linked to the RHL Draft. Starting at 19th overall, he worked hard to push his way to the top 10 to select a prospect he’s really high on. He did this in 2 separate transactions. First of all, he sent picks #19 and #52 + a 7th round pick to the Carolina Huricanes in exchange for the 13th overall pick. He then picked up the phones again and offered the 13th overall pick along with a 2025 2nd round pick, Cayden Primeau and Erik Brannström to gain 3 positions and pick at #10. Some will look at this trade and say that he paid a lot to gain the 3 positions but we waivers-rule is important here since both Primeau and Brannström will have to go through waivers if Tampa wants to send them down. The Panthers knew they had no room for Brannström nor Primeau in the pro so it made sense for them too. But they remain 2 really valuable pieces for the Bolts.

RHL Draft

With all the trades they’ve made, the Panthers ended up with only 4 selections in the 2024 Draft.

Here they are:

#10- Beckett Sennecke (Forward): PKayne had to make 2 trades to be able to jump into the top 10 and finally select the player they had in sight the whole year. Sennecke is a tall (and lanky, for now) right winger that can play at Center and he has some of the best hands of the whole draft. He’s been a riser the whole season, showing his great offensive attributes and the best stretch of his pre-draft year came in the playoffs when he registered 22 points in 16 games, which put him at the top of the OHL scoring leaders before he got injured. Sennecke has a huge offensive potential and he’s coming hot while it counts the most. The Panthers will really appreciate his presence in the line-up once he’s ready!

#99- Anthony Romani (Forward): Anthony Romani was an overager at the draft but he had a huge burst in production in the OHL this past season, ending up with 58 goals (1st in the OHL!) and 53 assists for a total of 111 points (2nd in the OHL!). I know that huge stats for overagers could be less significant but Romani just celebrated his birthday on July 12th so he had his impressive season at only 18 year old. Of course, he’s not a sure shot. But he’s a really talented player that the Panthers were eyeing this season and he could become a really good pick at #99!

#195- Jared Woolley (Defenseman): It’s always a good thing to go to the Hunter’s school. Woolley, a 6’4 214lbs dman, just did that while playing for the London Knights in the 2023-24 season and added a championship to his resume. He wasn’t the most used among the Knights but it’s something that happens often in London: Really good players are buried with less responsibilities because they’re usually stacked. It happened with Sam O’Reilly. It happened before that with Luke Evangelista too. There are many examples. So I wouldn’t surprised at all if Woolley put some interesting stats on the board in the upcoming season since he’ll probably see more ice time than he did. And that should be a good thing for everyone involved.

#211- Antoine Dorion (Forward): At #211, you can’t expect an impact player. But Dorion still has some upsides and he will play with a good Quebec Remparts team in the QMJHL. The Panthers aren’t expecting to see Dorion on a top 6 role someday but they still think he could become a good bottom sixer for them. If not, well, they thought he was the most talented player to get at that rank and he could still become a good player for them in the farm system. Same goes for Woolley!

Free Agency

The Panthers made a lot of acquisitions through free agency, mainly to add some firepower to their pro offense but they’ve also signed many many players for their farm system where they wish to win another championship (they won 2 in the past 4 seasons). We won’t go into details for those but here’s a list of players that signed this summer and should play for the Charlotte Checkers this season: Michael Sgarbossa, Vinnie Hinostroza, Rocco Grimaldi, Max McCormick, Nick Cousins, Louis Belpedio, Dylan McIlrath, Spencer Martin and Michael Hutchinson.

But let’s take a look at some additions that will play with the Panthers!

Jordan Eberle: 4 x 3,500,000$ + 5,000,000$ signing bonus

With the departure of Jonathan Huberdeau, the Cats needed someone to take his place on the top 6 and while Eberle is now a 34 year old veteran, PKayne was confident in giving him a 4-year contract considering the 3,500,000$ AAV is really decent for a top 6 forward and the organization thinks he’s gonna be worth every penny of his contract for the whole length. They probably don’t expect 80 points out of him but they think 50 points is a real possibility and they also hope the veteran presence will help some younger guys like Stützle, Caufield and Zegras.

Josh Anderson: 4 x 1,500,000$ + 3,000,000$ signing bonus

It sure seems like giving a 4 seasons contract to Josh Anderson is a gamble but honestly, it’s not a huge one. The “PowerHorse” just had a shitty season but he’s still on a 20 goals per 82 games pace in his career so if he can get back to that form, it will become a good bargain for the Panthers. And if not, well, he’s still a big body that can skate fast, distribute hits and at a 1,5M$ AAV, there’s no concerns with him eventually plays on the 4th line. Low risk, mid reward type of signing.

So that’s pretty much it for the offseason review. That being said, it remains a possibility to see PKayne move again on the trade market before the season starts.

Stay tuned!

Mark Kandy

Miami Sun