FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito said the club is “not done” reshaping its roster after Sunday’s blockbuster trade for 26-year-old forward Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators, signaling an aggressive offseason for a franchise that missed the playoffs despite three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances.
The trade reunites Brady Tkachuk, the former Senators captain, with his older brother Matthew Tkachuk in South Florida. The Panthers sent the No. 9 pick and No. 25 selection — acquired from the Seattle Kraken for forward Mackie Samoskevich — to Ottawa as part of the deal. Zito said he feels “great” about the roster after the addition but made clear more changes are coming.
“We have all the (pro scouts) in town actually a little early,” Zito said. “Every day we sit back there and play fantasy hockey trying to figure out ways to improve, and we’ll continue to do that. We’re not done.”
Florida finished the season 40-38-4, unable to overcome a rash of injuries after winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024 and 2025. The missed postseason has driven urgency inside the front office, though the Tkachuk trade cost the Panthers both of their first-round picks heading into the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
“We’ll be very focused and very thorough in how we evaluate each position moving forward,” Zito said. “And as you add more and more pieces, the cap shrinks more and more, so your margin of error is gone — and we have to get it right.”
Zito acknowledged the difficulty of building under salary-cap constraints but framed it as an opportunity. “It’s a little bit of a daunting task. It’s actually a lot of fun,” he said. “And kudos to our scouts for the jobs that they’ve done to be able to identify players and keep the train going.”
The draft begins Friday at 7 p.m. ET, with rounds continuing Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. Free agency opens July 1, giving the Panthers their next window to add pieces to a roster Zito intends to make a Stanley Cup contender again.