FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers acquired goalie Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night but remain in urgent need of a starting netminder with NHL free agency opening Wednesday at noon, Florida Hockey Now reported.
Schmid, who cost the Panthers a third-round pick two years from now, projects as a backup. He is a restricted free agent expected to sign for around $1 million. The acquisition does nothing to resolve the club’s central question: whether Sergei Bobrovsky will return or whether general manager Bill Zito must find a starter elsewhere. The Panthers sit roughly $5.8 million under the NHL’s $104 million salary cap, though teams are permitted to exceed the ceiling by 10 percent during the offseason — a window that gives Zito room to maneuver.
The most tantalizing trade target is Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the only active NHL netminder to win the Vezina Trophy three times and one of three goalies to win MVP in the 2000s. Hellebuyck has five years remaining on a deal carrying an $8.5 million cap hit. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has said he is listening to offers after word broke over the weekend that Hellebuyck would accept a trade to Buffalo, where the Sabres and Jets are reportedly in discussions. Hellebuyck previously played for Panthers head coach Paul Maurice in Winnipeg, a connection Florida Hockey Now noted could shift the landscape quickly.
St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, the 2019 Stanley Cup champion with one year and a $6 million cap hit remaining, had been considered a draft-weekend trade candidate, but word out of St. Louis is the Blues plan to give Binnington a chance at a bounce-back season.
The free-agent market offers alternatives if a trade does not materialize. Stuart Skinner backstopped the Edmonton Oilers against the Panthers in the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Connor Ingram spent the past two seasons with Utah and Edmonton. Frederik Andersen, 36, went 13-2 in the playoffs this year helping the Carolina Hurricanes reach the Cup Final before being replaced in Game 4; he also faced the Panthers in the 2023 and 2025 Eastern Conference finals. Cam Talbot, who nearly joined the Panthers in a trade during the 2015 draft in Sunrise, is also available.
Zito waved off questions Saturday about whether the Panthers need to shed salary to make essential moves, but the math suggests otherwise. Florida Hockey Now reported that the club could execute one or more trades before Wednesday to clear cap space — or potentially land a starting goalie and move salary in a single deal.
The Panthers open development camp Monday through Thursday at the IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale, with rookie camp and a tournament set for late August or early September. Preseason play begins Sept. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes.