FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers open training camp Sept. 17 with their roster largely set, but speculation that the club could extend a professional tryout to former 40-goal scorer Patrik Laine has injected intrigue into the preseason picture, Florida Hockey Now reported.
Laine’s potential PTO remains unconfirmed, but the Panthers have a track record — albeit a thin one — of finding contributors through the tryout pipeline. The most consequential PTO signing in recent franchise history was Eric Staal, the former Carolina Hurricanes captain who arrived in 2022 after sitting out the previous NHL season. Staal played 72 regular-season games, scored 14 goals with 29 points, then appeared in 21 playoff games as the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996.
“I have signed a few contracts in my day, but that one felt good,” Staal said when he officially joined the roster after cap space opened following an Aaron Ekblad injury in October. “I had put the time and the effort. I spent the when no one’s looking time wondering what was ahead, but I was staying with it. I have definitely signed different types of contracts over my time, that one definitely felt very good and it was a culmination of a bunch of people helping push me to get back to this point.”
After Florida’s 4-3 win over Carolina in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final that season, Staal reflected on the club’s resilience. “I am just proud to be associated with this group,” he said. “This is such a determined, competitive bunch of guys. And they have been all year. It was tough at times. But it is fun in this moment. Yeah, we have work ahead of us but we can enjoy this. I did not say that because I did not believe it. I did. I knew it. But it wasn’t going to come easy because it doesn’t in this league. It is just fun to be with these guys.”
The Panthers’ other standout PTO success came a decade earlier. Brad Boyes attended training camp in 2013, around the time Vinnie Viola purchased the franchise. With the team in flux during the ownership transition, then-GM Dale Tallon signed Boyes to an NHL contract on Sept. 28 after also bringing in goalie Tim Thomas. Boyes led the Panthers with 21 goals during a dismal 2013-14 season in which the club went 29-45-8 for 66 points. The leading scorer was youngster Nick Bjugstad with 38 points off 16 goals, while rookie Sasha Barkov managed eight goals and 24 points in 54 games before a season-ending knee injury at the 2014 Olympics. Florida rewarded Boyes with a two-year contract worth $2.6 million annually, though the club bought out the final year after he scored 14 goals during the 2014-15 season.
Last season’s PTO experiment yielded more modest returns. Noah Gregor came to camp in Fort Lauderdale, earned a contract, and split time between the Panthers and the AHL Charlotte Checkers. Gregor scored four goals with nine points in 37 games with Florida and posted 17 points in 26 games for Charlotte. He signed with the Winnipeg Jets this offseason.
The Panthers open preseason play Sept. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes, with the 2026-27 regular season beginning Sept. 29 at Carolina at 5 p.m. on ESPN. Florida’s home opener is Oct. 10 against the Minnesota Wild at 6 p.m.