Panthers Sign Radko Gudas To 6-Year Contract
Per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Radko Gudas is signing with Florida on a six-year deal carrying a $1.5 million cap hit.
The signing completes a reunion that had been in motion for the better part of a week.
The Path Back to Florida
The Panthers acquired Gudas's signing rights from the Anaheim Ducks on June 29 in exchange for the rights to forward A.J. Greer, giving Florida an exclusive negotiating window before the market opened.
Both were pending unrestricted free agents, and the Ducks separately signed Greer to a four-year deal.
Radko Gudas 6 x $1.5M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2026
Florida
Gudas previously spent three seasons with the Panthers from 2020 to 2023, helping Florida reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2023 before leaving to sign with Anaheim, where he served as captain for two seasons.
Now the 36-year-old is back in South Florida on a below-market number, coming in well under the $4 million average annual value he earned with the Ducks.
Adding to an Already Mean Roster
The Gudas signing fits a clear organizational theme this offseason.
Florida missed the playoffs in 2026 and has responded by getting bigger and nastier, adding Brady Tkachuk in a blockbuster with Ottawa and signing Garnet Hathaway earlier in the summer.
Gudas is one of the most physically intimidating defensemen in the league, a 14-year veteran with a reputation for punishing hits and a long history of drawing suspensions, most recently a five-game ban for kneeing Auston Matthews this past March.
At the 11th hour, Radko Gudas has signed with the Panthers 💰🐀 pic.twitter.com/8CqJBAofZd
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 1, 2026
He brings 211 career points across 885 games along with the kind of snarl that defined Florida's championship identity.
At $1.5 million per season, he is a low-cost, high-edge addition to a blue line built around Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, and Seth Jones.
The reunion is complete, and the Panthers are once again one of the toughest teams in the league to play against.
