Eight Players, One Giant Cap Puzzle: Panthers Enter a Dangerous 2026 Offseason
The Florida Panthers are coming off another deep playoff push, but now comes the part fans rarely see — the financial knife fight that follows every contender trying to stay on top.
Bill Zito and the Panthers front office head into the 2026 offseason staring at eight arbitration-eligible players, almost no breathing room under the salary cap, and one situation that could quietly shape the franchise for the next five years: Mackie Samoskevich.
And make no mistake, this is where championship windows either stay open… or start slamming shut.
The list itself is legitimate. Eight players are officially arbitration eligible, though not all of them are likely to push things that far. Most are depth pieces expected to land modest two-way contracts. But a few names matter far more than the others.
Samoskevich is at the center of everything.
At just 23 years old, he’s one of only two Panthers forwards under age 25 alongside Anton Lundell. That alone makes him valuable on a roster loaded with expensive veterans locked into long-term deals. Florida needs younger, cheaper contributors to balance a payroll stacked with stars making between $7 million and $10 million annually.
The problem? Samoskevich still hasn’t fully broken through.
He finished the 2025-26 season with 12 goals and 32 points in 77 games. Respectable numbers, sure, but not exactly the offensive leap many expected after he signed a league-minimum contract last season. The talent is there. The flashes are there. But now comes the uncomfortable part for Florida: deciding how much they believe in the upside before another team decides for them.
Because this summer, offer sheets suddenly feel real again across the NHL.
With a deep restricted free agent market that includes names like Jason Robertson, Trevor Zegras, and even Cale Makar’s situation drawing league-wide attention, aggressive teams with cap space may finally start weaponizing offer sheets instead of treating them like radioactive material.
That puts Samoskevich directly in the danger zone.
If another franchise believes Florida can’t comfortably match a mid-tier offer sheet, they could force Zito into a brutal decision — overpay to keep him or take draft pick compensation and lose one of the organization’s few young forwards with real upside.
And here’s the ugly part for Florida: the cap situation is already tight enough to make every dollar painful.
The Panthers are effectively operating over the salary cap and relying heavily on LTIR relief just to stay compliant. The roster remains top-heavy with massive long-term commitments to Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Seth Jones, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, and Carter Verhaeghe.
That’s the price of building a contender.
Now comes the cost of maintaining one.
Everything hinges on Sergei Bobrovsky’s expiring $10 million contract. His departure as an unrestricted free agent is the single biggest source of financial relief available to Florida this summer. Without that money coming off the books, this entire arbitration conversation probably becomes impossible.
But replacing Bobrovsky won’t be cheap either.
Even at age 37, experienced goaltending on the open market carries a premium, and Florida still needs to decide whether they trust an internal option or chase a veteran replacement. Add in the pending free agency of defenseman Niko Mikkola, and suddenly the Panthers have multiple pressure points forming at once.
That’s why this arbitration list matters more than it looks on paper.
Most fans won’t spend much time worrying about names like Ben Steeves, Wilmer Skoog, Mikulas Hovorka, or Cooper Black. Those deals are manageable. The likely arbitration battles involving Donovan Sebrango, Tobias Bjornfot, and Mike Benning are important depth decisions, but they’re not franchise-altering.
Samoskevich is different.
Florida’s entire balancing act comes down to whether they can keep adding enough young talent around an expensive veteran core to stay in the Stanley Cup conversation year after year. Lose too many affordable contributors, and even elite rosters start thinning out fast.
The Panthers built themselves into a powerhouse. Now they have to prove they can afford to stay one.
Stay tuned. 🐾
