CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JANUARY 05: Louis Domingue #70 of the New York Rangers tends the net against the Chicago Blackhawks during the third period at the United Center on January 05, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Michael Reaves
Getty Images
Did the Florida Panthers just signal that Sergei Bobrovsky could be on the move by the NHL trade deadline on Friday?
The Panthers on Wednesday signed veteran goaltender Louis Domingue to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. Domingue, 33, has been with the Charlotte Checkers, the Panthers’ American Hockey League affiliate, since late November after starting the season in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Domingue has played in 144 career NHL games, most recently for the New York Rangers (one game apiece in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons). His other stops include the Pittsburgh Penguins (2021-22), Calgary Flames (2020-21), New Jersey Devils (2019-20), Tampa Bay Lightning (2017-18 to 2018-19) and Arizona Coyotes (2014-15 2017-18).
He has a 61-60-10 record, .906 save percentage and 3.01 goals against average in the NHL.
Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) blocks a shot by Boston Bruins center Casey Mittelstadt (11) in a penalty shootout to win the NHL game at the Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Sunrise, Fla. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com
Why does this matter, and what does it mean for Bobrovsky?
Following Florida’s 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, the Panthers (30-28-3, 63 points) find themselves 10 points back of the Boston Bruins (34-21-5, 73 points) for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot with 21 games left to play.
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported Wednesday morning that the Panthers have “made the decision to be sellers” — a direction that was expected considering how the season has gone — and will listen on deals regarding their pending unrestricted free agents.
Bobrovsky, who is in the final season of a seven-year, $70 million deal, is the headliner of that group.
The veteran goaltender is in the midst of arguably the worst season of his Hall of Fame-worthy NHL career — a 16-year career that has him ranked eighth all-time in career wins (451) and also includes a pair of Vezina Trophies and a pair of Stanley Cups. He is 22-19-1 on the season but has a .873 save percentage (fourth-worst among 57 goalies with 20 games played this season), 3.13 goals against average (12th-worst in NHL) and minus-23.87 goals saved above average (second-worst in NHL).
But his postseason pedigree speaks for itself. He had six shutouts the past three postseasons while backstopping the Panthers to three consecutive Cup Finals and back-to-back championships.
Bobrovsky, who has a $10 million cap hit, has a 16-team no-trade list (the exact teams are unknown), meaning half the league is off the table unless he waives the clause.
If Florida does trade Bobrovsky, having Domingue signed gives the Panthers an easy swap to add a veteran goaltender to the roster to supplement Daniil Tarasov, who at that point would likely become the starter for the rest of the season.
The Panthers also have Cooper Black and Kirill Gerasimyuk at the AHL level with the Checkers.
The NHL trade deadline is 3 p.m. Friday.
.JPG)
Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.