After a season in which the Florida Panthers had over a dozen players out of their lineup for long stretches of time, general\u00a0manager Bill Zito\u00a0said Friday night that everyone is expected to be ready for training camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We have already seen captain\u00a0Sasha Barkov\u00a0and\u00a0Anton Lundell look to be in midseason form during their return to action in leading Finland to gold at the World Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aaron Ekblad\u00a0said his broken finger is healed up, with\u00a0Sam Reinhart saying the time off since leaving the Panthers\u2019 lineup in XXX due to a foot concern has been good for him to get back to 100 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zito said Friday night that\u00a0Brad Marchand, believed to have lingering hip and sports hernia problems, has not required surgery and is on track to be on the ice when\u00a0Paul Maurice\u00a0brings the team back together in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the NHL draft wrapping up on Saturday \u2014 the Panthers added six big new prospects on Day 2<\/a> \u2014 all eyes focus on what is next.\u00a0<\/p>\n Free agency opens Wednesday at noon, and the Panthers have only a few holes to fill.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two of those vacancies are pretty big ones: Right now, the Panthers do not have a single goalie with NHL experience under contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n That will change in the coming days, whether free agents\u00a0Sergei Bobrovsky\u00a0and\/or\u00a0Daniil Tarasov\u00a0return, the Panthers will have goalies manning the nets come training camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have mechanisms to create cap space if we need it,\u2019\u2019 said Zito, whose team stands around $5.8 million under the salary cap<\/a> with two goalies to sign as well as any depth free agents they may be interested.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have so many \u2018what-if\u2019 scenarios that it\u2019s hard. \u2026 We can modify the available cap space readily. There\u2019s a myriad of different transactions we could pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida also has to get a couple of its own players (forward\u00a0Cole Schwindt\u00a0and defenseman\u00a0Donovan Sebrango) under contracts as restricted free agents which cuts into that $5.8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll wrap that up Monday or Tuesday,\u2019\u2019 Zito said, \u201cmake some final decisions.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n So, what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n Zito did not say whether the Panthers will make qualifying offers to their main RFAs before Free Agency opens.<\/p>\n If a player is not made an offer, they become a free agent on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Panthers would be a team looking to shed some salary to help their search for goalie help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Depending on whether Sebrango and Schwindt are made offers, Florida could have only around $3 million to fill those goalie spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s not near enough to do much of anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, Florida may let a couple of its own go \u2014 but will still have to unload some salary.<\/p>\n Evan Rodrigues\u00a0has a $3 million cap hit and was rumored to be on the move since last summer when the Panthers signed their three big free agents (Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and\u00a0Brad Marchand).<\/p>\n Barkov being injured on the first day of his training camp and\u00a0Matthew Tkachuk\u00a0starting the season on LTIR saved the Panthers from having to make a difficult decision when it came to the salary cap.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time Tkachuk came back, other players such as\u00a0Seth Jones were injured, so the Panthers did not have to make any corresponding cap moves.\u00a0<\/p>\n It does not look like the Panthers are going to be able to put that off any more.\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida has two players (Rodrigues,\u00a0Eetu Luostarinen) who make $3 million and would be appealing to a number of teams if the Panthers had to wheel them off to create cap space.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both are in the final years of their contracts; so, too, is\u00a0Jesper Boqvist\u00a0who has a hit of $1.5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regardless of how things work out, the Panthers will be right up against the $104 million salary cap.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barring injuries, of course.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here is what the Panthers could look like if training camp opened today.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Friday night, Maurice said he plans on initially playing newcomer Brady Tkachuk on the top line with Barkov and Reinhart.\u00a0<\/p>\n Should be fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2026-27 FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES<\/p>\n AS OF JUNE 28, 2026<\/p>\n 8 Brady Tkachuk \u2014 16 Sasha Barkov \u2014 13 Sam Reinhart<\/p>\n 23 Carter Verhaeghe \u2014 9 Sam Bennett \u2014 19 Matthew Tkachuk<\/p>\n 27 Eetu Luostarinen \u2014 15 Anton Lundell \u2014 63 Brad Marchand<\/p>\n 29 Cole Reinhardt \u2014 17 Evan Rodrigues \u2014 21 Garnet Hathaway<\/p>\n 42 Gus Forsling \u2014 5 Aaron Ekblad<\/p>\n 77 Niko Mikkola \u2014 3 Seth Jones<\/p>\n 26 Uvis Balinskis \u2014 7 Dmitry Kulikov\u00a0<\/p>\n Goalie 1<\/p>\n Goalie 2\u00a0<\/p>\n Bench: F Cole Schwindt (RFA), F Jesper Boqvist, D Donovan Sebrango (RFA)<\/p>\n Extras: F Sandis Vilmanis, F Jonah Gadjovich<\/p>\n ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS\u00a0OFFSEASON<\/p>\n