The Atlantic Division is the toughest in the NHL with seven of the eight teams appearing close to being playoff worthy with five making it to the dance last season. The Florida Panthers, who were the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, were one of three teams in the division who did not make it.

Of those three, two vastly improved their lot during the offseason: The Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Detroit Red Wings, well, did not.

Although the Maple Leafs and Wings may not be playoff teams again this year, the Panthers certainly should be.

Last season’s break from the playoffs should be considered a blip on their championship radar.

The Panthers had almost 550 man-games missed due to injuries with just about every key player missing time at some point.

A bunch of their top players (Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Seth Jones, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, etc.) missed big chunks of the season.

Just being healthy again should be good enough for the Panthers.

But, as we know, ‘good enough’ is not what these Panthers aspire to.

So, general manager Bill Zito went about reworking his team once again this offseason.

Zito retooled the Panthers on the fly after taking the helm in 2020, building a championship core not only without missing a beat — but improving the team’s lot in each of his first five seasons.

With the way the Atlantic Division has strengthened itself over the years with Buffalo and Montreal finally coming out of rebuilds, the Bruins having a one-year reset, and Tampa Bay still looming large, the Panthers did not sit still by any means.

The biggest move of the offseason was trading for Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk after he helped the Senators to the playoffs the past two seasons.

But Zito certainly was not done there.

The Panthers will have a new goalie tandem this season after trading for Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid after moving on from Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov.

Will those moves improve the Panthers?

Time will tell, but they felt it was a risk worth taking.

The Panthers also added some brawn on their blueline by bringing back Radko Gudas and Alexander Petrovic.

Florida also bolstered its fourth line with veterans Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway.

Again, just being healthy would make the Panthers look a lot different this season than they did in the last; this version will look a lot different than it did when it won the franchise’s second straight Stanley Cup championship in 2025.

With all of the additions, there had to be some subtractions.

Aside from their goalies, the Panthers traded away Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Mackie Samoskevich — while letting some of their other free agents, most notably A.J. Greer, move on.

Greer was technically traded to Anaheim for Gudas before free agency opened, but with the payday he was due, he was not coming back.

FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON

Additions: F Brady Tkachuk (Trade-Ottawa); G Jacob Markstrom (T-New Jersey); G Akira Schmid (T-Vegas); D Radko Gudas (T/FA-Anaheim); C Lars Eller (FA-Ottawa); F Garnet Hathaway (T-Philadelphia), D Alexander Petrovic (UFA-Dallas), F John Beecher (FA-Calgary); F Sam Lafferty (FA-Chicago); F Bokondji Imama (FA-Pittsburgh)

Subtractions: G Sergei Bobrovsky (FA-Toronto), F Evan Rodrigues (T-New Jersey), G Daniil Tarasov (FA-Detroit), F A.J. Greer (T/FA-Anaheim), F Jesper Boqvist (T-New Jersey), F Mackie Samoskevich (T-Seattle), F Nolan Foote (FA-Philadelphia), F Noah Gregor (FA-Winnipeg), F Luke Kunin (FA), C Tomas Nosek (FA-Czechia), F Vinnie Hinostroza (FA-Colorado), F Ben Steeves (T-New Jersey)

The Big Move: Getting Tkachuk from Ottawa without giving up a roster player (sort of) was one of the big blockbuster deals of the summer. Florida did trade Samoskevich to Seattle to get one of the three first-round picks that went to the Senators in the deal. Still, the Panthers added yet another marquee player to a roster stocked with star power.

The Big Gamble: Moving on from Bobrovsky after his past three postseasons was certainly something the Florida front office, and its goalie department, worked on throughout the offseason. Markstrom struggled last season in New Jersey, and the Devils and new GM Sunny Mehta were ready to shed him and the two-year contract extension which kicks in this season. But, the Panthers are confident that Markstrom is ripe for a rebound — and bringing in a backup like Schmid who should carry more of the starting load than we’ve seen here over the past couple of years will turn out just fine. Well, better than fine, actually.

Other Moves: Signed Eetu Luostarinen to an eight-year contract extension; brought back D Donovan Sebrango and F Cole Schwindt after not making either qualifying offers.

The Grade: A

ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON