Panthers “Won’t Sit Still” After Missing Playoffs This Season

Expect the Florida Panthers to look at several options this summer, just a few weeks removed from officially missing the playoffs in 2025-26. Unhappy with how things ended, Florida is aware that injuries played a major role in their struggles, but GM Bill Zito also understands the team needs to improve. He expects he’ll be active.

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The problem is where to find what he needs.

In an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Zito said, “It’s too early to tell,’’ how busy he’ll be, but he is going to look around. “But it’s also about availability, right? You can say, ‘I need three Maseratis,’ but there are none out there, there’s none for sale, there’s no one that will trade you theirs, so you’d better have a Plan B.”

He added:

“I think we’re not alone. But I do think it’s an interesting dynamic now — a few years on this job — where you break down your roster, and you say, ‘We need this. We need that.’ Yeah, OK, where are you going to get it? So it’s a never-ending puzzle. We’ll just continue to grind and try to make good decisions.’’

Starts With Signing or Moving On From Bobrovsky

Zito knows that one of the first orders of business will be either signing or moving on from veteran goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The pending UFA wasn’t traded at the deadline, and it was because the Panthers and the netminder wanted to work out an extension. That’s turned out to be more difficult than expected.

Bobrovsky wants a certain number, but he’s arguably not worth what he’s asking for to Florida. “That’s just something we’ll sort out after the season,” Zito said. “I’d like to keep him. I hope we can. We’ll see what happens.”

His trade value as a pending UFA is almost nil, so this will mean either letting Bobrovsky test the market or signing him before he can. The same goes for A.J. Greer and a handful of other UFAs.

Next: NHL Trade Talk Recap: Draisaitl Update, Devils Fire GM, Utah and DeBoer