The Florida Panthers missed the playoffs last season because of injuries. After three straight campaigns marching to the Stanley Cup Final, the extra games and shortened offseason kept several key members of the team’s core out for significant time, dropping the franchise near the bottom of the Atlantic Division. Now, fully healthy and ready to regain their spot as the top team in the Eastern Conference, it is never too early to think about what one injury could do to derail the team in training camp or even in the preseason. That’s why General Manager Bill Zito should invite these NHL veterans to training camp on a PTO to serve as a backup option in case the fall of 2025 repeats itself.
Why these NHL Free Agents fit the Florida Panthers
Matt Grzelcyk (32) Defense
A local kid from Boston who played eight years with the Bruins, Matt Grzelcyk was on the 2023 team stunned by the Panthers' Game 7 victory that ended their historic season. After the Bruins unceremoniously parted ways with him, he went to the Pittsburgh Penguins and put up a career year with 39 assists and 40 points in all 82 games on a non-playoff team. Then, last year, with the Chicago Blackhawks, one of the league's worst clubs, he had 12 points in 69 games and a respectable minus-9 rating on a team with a goal differential of minus-60. As a 10-year veteran, someone who can anchor a power-play unit, Grzelyck played 66 playoff games with the Bruins, going to the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. In Florida, he wouldn't be a top-pairing defenseman, but if needed, could skate in a bottom-pair role and be a major contributor with the skilled forwards on this year's club.
Reilly Smith (34) Right Wing
The Panthers are already conducting a bit of a reunion tour in 2026, bringing back Jacob Markström, Radko Gudas, and Alex Petrovic. Interestingly, none of them have their name on the Stanley Cup, but Reilly Smith does, and after a 16-goal season with the Vegas Golden Knights, he finds himself unsigned in August. No longer a threat to score 40 to 50 points a season, at least Smith could be relied upon to score goals, boosting the bottom six. If he played in Florida last year, he would have had the seventh most goals, just one behind A.J. Greer, who departed to Anaheim this offseason. Moreover, Smith is just 12 games away from 1,000 in his career and has logged minutes in 124 playoff games, just the veteran presence the Panthers have sought over the past few seasons to build their dynasty.
James van Riemsdyk (37) Left Wing
Sometimes, a contending team will bring in a veteran who never got a chance for a ring and rally around them to win a Stanley Cup. This year, that could be James van Riemsdyk, a 37-year-old 17-year veteran with over 1,154 games and 696 points on his resume. Moreover, he has never failed to score at least 11 goals in a season, and he is a seven-time 20-goal scorer. Last year, on a struggling Detroit Red Wings team, van Riemsdyk scored 15 goals and had 31 points. No longer the point producer he was early in his career, playing in the Panthers' bottom six would be a boost for a player who's been to the playoffs just eight times in his lengthy career, with one visit to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2010.
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