FORT LAUDERDALE — Forward Tomas Nosek, who celebrated the Florida Panthers’ 2025 Stanley Cup championship on the ice in the final moments of the Game 6 blowout of the Edmonton Oilers, made his departure from the NHL official Friday by signing with HC Dynamo Pardubice of the Czech Extraliga, Florida Hockey Now reported.
Nosek, 33, ends an 11-season NHL career spanning 514 regular-season games with the Detroit Red Wings, Vegas Golden Knights, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils and Panthers. He appeared in 68 postseason games, reaching the Stanley Cup Final twice — first with the expansion Golden Knights and then with the Panthers, where he won the title.
“I just cannot find the right words to match my emotions right now,” Nosek said after the 2025 championship. “It is just an amazing feeling. You keep dreaming of it. I lost in one Final, and I did not know whether I would ever get this chance again. It is amazing. Just amazing.”
Nosek had been a healthy scratch at the start of the 2025 playoffs, but coach Paul Maurice inserted him into the lineup as the center of a fourth line that became integral to the Panthers’ run. Maurice yelled at Nosek, A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich to get on the ice in the final moments of Game 6 so they could start the championship celebration.
“This is an amazing team,” Nosek said last year. “What a great group of guys who I am proud to be a part of. Everyone in that room treated me so great. They took me in. It was fantastic.”
Nosek’s final season in Florida was slowed by a knee injury that required offseason surgery, keeping him out until March. He played in 21 games, scoring both of his goals in a 6-2 win against the Maple Leafs near the end of the regular season. A broken leg sustained in a win over the Rangers on April 15 ended his campaign before the season finale against the Red Wings.
Pardubice is familiar territory for Nosek, who played for the club in 2013-14 before signing with Detroit as an undrafted free agent. The Panthers, meanwhile, open training camp in Fort Lauderdale in early-to-mid September, with their preseason beginning Sept. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes and the 2026-27 regular season starting Sept. 29 at Carolina. The home opener is Oct. 10 against the Minnesota Wild at 6 p.m.