FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito said the franchise has not given up on re-signing goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, even as NHL Free Agency opens next Wednesday at noon and the team currently has zero goalies with NHL experience under contract.
“Until a door is closed, you never know,” Zito said during Brady Tkachuk’s introductory press conference at War Memorial, as reported by Florida Hockey Now. “Bob has done so much for our organization, and we continue to evaluate every single day, just try to get better. There are no doors closed here, ever.”
Bobrovsky’s seven-year, $70 million contract signed in 2019 has expired, and both he and Daniil Tarasov are pending free agents. Bobrovsky reportedly wants one final big payday, but the Panthers have known for some time that moving on was a real possibility — even though a year ago, a new deal felt like a foregone conclusion.
The Panthers’ locker room has made its position clear. Matthew Tkachuk offered an emphatic case for keeping the goaltender: “We cannot lose him. He’s our guy. He is going to get us back to where we want to be. [He is] the most important piece of our team, the past couple of years, with what he has done. It’s the character, the work ethic, the drive. He sets the tone on and off the ice. I don’t care what age he is, he is the backbone of this team. If we’re going to get back there, we’re going to need him.”
Captain Sasha Barkov echoed that urgency. “There is not a single person in South Florida who wants him gone from here. He is a loved teammate, everyone loves him, loves to play in front of him, loves to battle for him, loves seeing him every day at the rink,” Barkov said. “So, it’s tough to even imagine that there could be a chance we see him go. So, of course, I am in the same boat as Chucky and in the same boat as every single guy in this organization.”
Barkov added: “Everyone wants him to stay. He is a big piece of what we have done here on and off the ice. I’m sure everyone is doing everything possible to make him stay.”
A year ago, Zito faced a similarly daunting free-agency puzzle with pending free agents Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand — and managed to retain all three. Whether he can pull off another such maneuver with Bobrovsky remains the franchise’s most pressing question heading into July 1.
The Panthers hold no first-round picks in the NHL Draft, which takes place Friday and Saturday at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, with six overall selections. Development camp is scheduled for late June or early July at the IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale, followed by rookie camp in late August or early September and training camp in early to mid-September in Fort Lauderdale ahead of the 2026-27 season opener in late September.