Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Zito arrives to loanDepot for his team’s Winter Classic outdoor hockey game against the New York Rangers on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami, Fla.
Photo by Matias J. Ocner
mocner@miamiherald.com
There were plenty of rumors, plenty of murmurs, plenty of whispers surrounding the Florida Panthers entering the NHL trade deadline. In a rare occurrence under president of hockey operation and general manager Bill Zito’s tenure, the Panthers were in position to be sellers in a lost season.
Ultimately, though, they didn’t do all that much.
Florida made just two minor trades, both with the Minnesota Wild — sending veteran defenseman Jeff Petry and unspecified future considerations to Minnesota for forward Vinnie Hinostroza and a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick (which could become a fifth-round pick). They also picked up a depth forward in Cole Reinhardt off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights.
Neither goaltender Sergei Boborvsky nor forward A.J. Greer, both impending free agents who were considered serious candidates to move, were traded. In fact, Florida is trying to extend both, moves that if completed would continue to add to the Panthers’ core that is signed for multiple years down the road.
“I’m not making deals for the sake of making deals,” Zito said after the trade deadline came and went on Friday afternoon. “We want to continue to try to make our team better.”
Translation: The Panthers aren’t letting this 2025-26 season, one that was practically derailed from the start, deter them from their grander goal of long-term success.
They know how much talent they have even with a year that has gone awry due to injury and underperformance and players running out of gas after a grueling three-season run that has included three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final and back-to-back titles.
Even following Florida’s 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, a win that snapped a four-game losing streak, the Panthers (31-29-3, 65 points) entered Saturday eight points back of the Boston Bruins (34-22-5, 73 points) for a playoff spot with 19 games to go. Their odds of making the playoffs entering the day were just 2.3%, according to MoneyPuck. The Athletic’s model is slightly more favorable but still just a meager 7%.
“We know where we’re at,” forward Sam Bennett said. “This team is going to be a really good team for a long time. There’s no panic. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, for sure. It’s frustrating right now, but we still have a ton of belief.”
But belief only goes so far when the roster is a shell of itself.
Captain Aleksander Barkov, the Panthers’ record holder for nearly every meaningful career category for a skater and a three-time Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defensive forward, hasn’t played all season after needing surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee following a training camp injury.
Star winger Matthew Tkachuk missed the first 47 games rehabbing offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia he played through in last season’s Stanley Cup playoff run.
Forward Tomas Nosek missed 60 games and linemate Jonah Gadjovich has been out for 53 games and counting. Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov missed 57 games. Fellow blueliner Seth Jones has been out the past 23 games. Brad Marchand has missed 11 games this year.
That’s 314 man games lost just among those seven key contributors players.
“We’re trying,” Bennett said. “It’s not a lack of effort. Sometimes when things aren’t going your way, you’re trying to do a little too much. Sometimes less is more. Everyone cares. There’s great character in this room.”
And there will continue to be.
The Panthers have 11 players — seven forwards, four defensemen — signed through the 2029-30 season.
That core of players: Forwards Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand plus defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Seth Jones and Niko Mikkola.
“The future is bright,” Zito said. “I’m excited, and I can tell you I’m hungry.”
The team is still hungry, too. The initial success creates the hunger. Having that success taken away only fuels the desire that much more to get it back. Knowing 16 teams will be chasing their goal while they’re at home will only motivate them that much more to get back.
“I promise we’re going to be back to there at some point,” Tkachuk said. “Hopefully it’s next year.”
But for now, the Panthers’ present focus is ensuring that when they do get back, it’s at full strength.
That means potentially shutting down or reducing ice time for some of its biggest stars who are playing through nagging injuries. That means potentially giving younger players in the organization a longer runway to see what they can do at the NHL level to give the front office a glimpse of who they already have in-house that can fill roles down the line.
“I don’t think we’re quitting on anything,” Zito said, “but we’re also realistic.”
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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.