Insider: Panthers Poised To Make Noise on Trade Market In Next 10 Days

The two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers still find themselves five points out of a playoff spot at about the 50-game mark of the season. Injuries have certainly taken their toll on the defending champs, with Sasha Barkov—the best two-way center in hockey—on LTIR for the entire season thus far, and Matthew Tkachuk only just making his return to the lineup for the first time.

Seth Jones recently joined Barkov on LTIR and Brad Marchand is also on IR.

The Panthers find themselves in a dogfight to reach the postseason, with eight teams battling for the two Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference. But anyone who thinks GM Bill Zito is sitting around just waiting to see how things unfold, hasn't been paying attention for the last few years.

Insider Pierre LeBrun said on TSN on Thursday that he expects the Panthers to pounce in short order here—even before the Olympic Roster Freeze on Feb. 4th.

Here’s the thing. I think in a perfect world, Bill Zito, the GM of the Panthers would have probably gotten to the Olympic break, come out of it and looked at what they needed. I don’t know that he can afford that now. The season is really on the line. So my sense of things from talking to other people around the league is Bill Zito has been pretty active phoning around and trying to understand what’s out there to upgrade his team.

And with injuries up front and on the blueline, Zito will be casting a wide net, adds LeBrun.

And I don’t think it’s a specific area he’s trying to address. I think it’s, generally, what can I do to upgrade my team before Feb. 4. So, keep an eye on Florida. They’ve made a lot of good trades the last few years and they’re trying to make another one.

Last season, of course, the Panthers made two tremendous additions who were crucial contributors to their second Cup triumph, in Jones and Marchand. Who will it be in 2026?