The Florida Panthers began their quest for a championship in 2023, losing in the Final to the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the organization would go on to capture the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025. In the process, General Manager Bill Zito mortgaged the future to acquire a boatload of superstars, including Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, and Seth Jones.
Because of some blockbuster trades, Zito traded away many top draft picks and top prospects to keep the Panthers as a top team in the Eastern Conference. That’s why, when The Athletic released its recent rankings of the Top 100 NHL Drafted Prospects, Florida was nowhere to be found on the list. Moreover, the team didn’t have a goalie on the Top 20 Drafted Goalies rankings.
However, there is a silver lining to not being on the rankings, as the Dallas Stars also found themselves shut out on both lists. Of course, many NHL teams didn’t find players on the Top 100 and Top 20 rankings, but the Colorado Avalanche were the only team outside of the Stars and Panthers to not have any top-ranked skaters, with a goalie prospect making the list. Interestingly, one thing they have in common is that those three clubs are Stanley Cup contenders every season.
In this decade, the Panthers have made only two first-round selections at the draft: Mackie Samoskevich, 24th overall in 2021, and Anton Lundell, 12th overall in 2020. Recently, Florida traded Samoskevich to the Seattle Kraken, using the draft picks in the deal to acquire Matthew Tkachuk’s brother, Brady, from the Ottawa Senators. Ultimately, that leaves Lundell as the team’s top prospect, even though he’s been an NHL regular for a few seasons now and even has his name on the Stanley Cup twice.
Eventually, when the Panthers' current core ages out, the organization will need to restock their pipeline and think about the days when Barkov isn't leading the charge up the ice. Currently, the Florida 2026-27 lineup features only one player under 25, Sandis Vilmanis, which means in five seasons' time, everyone who is currently over 25 will be over 30. Meanwhile, today's 30-year-olds will be over 35 and on the backside of their careers.
Of course, raising a few more Stanley Cup banners will keep the fanbase happy, and they will forget how empty the Panthers pipeline might be. However, when that day comes and the playoff results are not favorable, they will look back at the summer of 2026 and wonder where the reinforcements were.
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