Whats Florida going to do with its cap, $19 mill in space

[Harry S Deals]

Looks like according to Puckpedia next season the Panthers are sitting with about $19 million in space but they only have 10 forwards and 5 defenseman and 1 goaler signed next season.

$19 million spread around 7 players isnt a lot of flexibility. i dont see Ekblad or Bennett coming back for anything close to market value. They do have some decent younger players they can pencil in but their overall prospect pool is poor.

Thoughts?

[Frank Underwood]

I don’t think there is any possibility of them bringing Eckblad back (nor should they). But I’m sure they will do everything possible to keep Bennett and Marchand. If Zito can work a little magic, they should be in good shape and be legit Cup contenders for at least another couple of years.

[Harry S Deals]

I don’t think there is any possibility of them bringing Eckblad back (nor should they). But I’m sure they will do everything possible to keep Bennett and Marchand. If Zito can work a little magic, they should be in good shape and be legit Cup contenders for at least another couple of years.

So at what cost, Bennett at $8 mil a year and Marchand at $5 and those numbers sound low. Then what?

[Pierre McGuire]

I don’t think there is any possibility of them bringing Eckblad back (nor should they). But I’m sure they will do everything possible to keep Bennett and Marchand. If Zito can work a little magic, they should be in good shape and be legit Cup contenders for at least another couple of years.

So at what cost, Bennett at $8 mil a year and Marchand at $5 and those numbers sound low. Then what?

And then they will figure it out…they have high salaries people making those decisions.

[Harry S Deals]

Its possible this is the Panthers last shot at a title then they may go into a little bit of a retool with the bottom of the roster that is if they go with Bennett. Thats a really heavy top end of the roster they will have around $60 million dedicated to 7 players if Bennett takes $7 mil to stay

[BudOnTap]

i think they will be comfortable doing whatever ends up happing after winning two cups in a row, whomever they lose off of the current roster.

[Frank Underwood]

Kind of interesting…..Bobrovsky will be going into the last year of his contract. I’d have to think the Cats will try to keep things together for one more run next season. No idea if he will retire at the end of his deal, but he will be 38 at the start of the 2026 season. So if Zito can find a way to keep Bennett and Marchand for 2025/26, he probably gets some flexibility starting with the 2026 season, with Bob either retiring or possibly taking a lot less on a short-term deal. We’ll see what happens.

[skilles]

I'm guessing living in Florida and winning Stanley cups is very attractive to a lot of players

[TheHighHat]

I believe Zito will somehow try to keep Bennett & Ekblad but will have to let Marchand walk.
It’s all about their positions.

Zito realized that the Panthers were going nowhere in the playoffs this year with Kulikov as their 2RHD so he went out and acquired Jones to right the wrong of letting Montour leave.
I’ll admit when Florida let Montour walk last summer I thought for sure they were going to extend Ekblad.
Has Zito learned that you need two very good RHD instead of only one?

From strictly a positional and ice time perspective, Ekblad is more important than Bennett because Lundell appears that he can easily handle 2C responsibilities. Of course the Panthers have no one to replace Lundell at 3C if Bennett walks.
The Panthers simply don’t have a replacement for Ekblad at RHD.
However, no one can replace Bennett’s style of play.

Zito made the mistake of extending a streaky scoring winger (Verhaeghe) last summer before Bennett and/or Ekblad.
Again, it’s all about positions. Wingers are abundant. Centers and RHD are not.

Speaking of wingers: if Florida re-signs both Bennett & Ekblad they will try to unload Rodrigues and Luostarinen to become cap compliant. They would also beg other teams to offer sheet or trade for Samoskevich. They’ll be running out cap minimum or near cap minimum wingers besides their big 3 to start 25-26 in this scenario.

[TruBlueFan_1970]

Not as dire as being made out. Assuming they find $8.0m middle ground with Bennett, that leaves $11 million to basically fill out bottom 6 roles. They would still have:

11 Core forwards:
Barkov, MattT, Reinhart, Bennett, Verhaeghe, Lundell, Luostarinen, Rodriques, Boqvist, Greer, Gadjovich

4 Core Dmen:
Jones, Forsling, Mikkola, Kulikov and a 5th in Balinskis signed for another year.

They could find 2-3 bottom 6 forwards, or bring up a prospect for $2-3m and still have $8m left to fill 2 Dmen and an older backup for one more season. Someone like a Jake Allen as an example who is 34 and a UFA who could come cheap. Fabbro might get $4m and would fit well in their system.

I guess my point is that they can sign Bennett and still have the majority of their forward core and goalie there for another run. Sign one decent free agent RHD and then fill gaps. They will still be a force next season IMHO.

[George Zipp]

Not as dire as being made out. Assuming they find $8.0m middle ground with Bennett, that leaves $11 million to basically fill out bottom 6 roles. They would still have:

11 Core forwards:
Barkov, MattT, Reinhart, Bennett, Verhaeghe, Lundell, Luostarinen, Rodriques, Boqvist, Greer, Gadjovich

4 Core Dmen:
Jones, Forsling, Mikkola, Kulikov and a 5th in Balinskis signed for another year.

They could find 2-3 bottom 6 forwards, or bring up a prospect for $2-3m and still have $8m left to fill 2 Dmen and an older backup for one more season. Someone like a Jake Allen as an example who is 34 and a UFA who could come cheap. Fabbro might get $4m and would fit well in their system.

I guess my point is that they can sign Bennett and still have the majority of their forward core and goalie there for another run. Sign one decent free agent RHD and then fill gaps. They will still be a force next season IMHO.

We could trade them Dags, Cole and a third for Tkachuk and bring Matty home where he clearly has always very much wanted to be and free up cap space for them to re-up Bennett, Ekblad, Marchand etc. Get er done leery.

[danno]

They can have texier for free if they need help filling out their roster