The Florida Panthers just went back-to-back. They won their first-ever Stanley Cup last season, and followed that up with another win by knocking the Edmonton Oilers out in six games.
With Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling, and Seth Jones among those locked in long-term, there's reason to believe this Panthers team has a dynasty in them. They're just so talented and so deep.
With that being said, the roster they'll be running back in the 2025-26 campaign, when they attempt to three-peat, will have a new look. These three players won't be back with the team as they attempt to chase history.
3) The Panthers can find a better backup than Vitek Vanecek
When the Panthers shockingly traded Spencer Knight away, they needed a backup goaltender. They acquired Vitek Vanecek to play that role. He didn't appear in a single playoff game with Sergei Bobrovsky being his usual outstanding self, but he didn't exactly impress in the regular season either.
Vanecek had an .890 save percentage and allowed 3.00 goals against on average despite the Panthers only surrendering a little over 24 shots per game when he was between the pipes. A seven-game sample size is extremely small, but it's not as if he's been much better in recent years.
Vanecek played well for the New Jersey Devils in the 2022-23 campaign but struggled mightily the following year, leading him to get traded to the San Jose Sharks. His play only regressed in San Jose and wasn't any better in Florida. With Vanecek now hitting free agency, the backup goalie spot feels like an area where the Panthers should have no trouble finding an upgrade over Vanecek.
2) Nate Schmidt has earned more money than the Panthers can give him
Nate Schmidt signed a one-year deal worth $800,000 to sign with the Panthers after the Winnipeg Jets elected to buy him out. Let that sink in. Sure, the Jets were fine without him, but Schmidt played the best hockey of his career with the Panthers and was at his best when it mattered most.
Schmidt only had 19 points in the regular season, but he played in 80 games and was a perfect fit on their bottom pair. He elevated his game to a level we had never seen from him in the playoffs, as he racked up 12 points in 23 games and was a +9 while averaging a little over 16 minutes of ice time per game.
He's a player that the Panthers would presumably love to bring back, but coming off the season he just had for the Stanley Cup champions, chances are, he'll earn more money and an opportunity to play in an elevated role elsewhere. That'd be awfully hard for Schmidt to pass on.
1) The Panthers acquired their Aaron Ekblad replacement
This is the big one. At the end of the day, the Panthers cannot keep everyone, and Florida has a ton of impactful players set to hit the open market. Chances are, after winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, Sam Bennett is going to be prioritized, and rightfully so. Considering how impactful he was, Brad Marchand is likely next on the priority list. That means Ekblad is, at best, Florida's third-best free agent, which is crazy to say since he's one of the best defensemen in hockey at his best.
As painful as it'd be to lose Ekblad, a dominant two-way defenseman who has played his entire 11-year career with the Panthers, it feels as if this departure is easy to see coming. After all, the Panthers already acquired a player who can easily replace him on the top pair on the right side in Seth Jones, who is locked in long-term.
The Panthers would obviously love to keep Ekblad around, but the NHL is a league with a salary cap. Having Ekblad, Marchand, and Bennett in free agency in the same offseason on a team already loaded with several expensive contracts makes it really tough to keep all three stars in town. When looking at who was the most impactful in the playoffs and how this Panthers roster is constructed, letting Ekblad, the second-longest-tenured player in franchise history, walk, is the likely outcome.