The Florida Panthers on Friday continued to add to their roster ahead of training camp and the 2025-26 season by signing forward Luke Kunin to a one-year deal.
Kunin, 27, is an eight-year NHL veteran and former first-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2016. He has played in 434 career NHL games, producing 73 goals and 69 assists for 142 points during stops with Minnesota, the Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets. He has 887 career hits, including at least 165 in three of the past four seasons.
“Luke is a physical and highly competitive forward who possesses excellent leadership abilities and strong character,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said in a press release announcing the signing.
While the signing of Kunin doesn’t guarantee that he makes the roster, it does point to potential future moves that could be made prior to the start of the season on Oct. 7 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The biggest of which is what happens with star winger Matthew Tkachuk and the domino effects that will follow.
Tkachuk has not yet decided if he is going to have surgery to remedy a pair of injuries — a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia. Tkachuk told ESPN last week that if does elect surgery for the injuries, both of which he sustained during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, that he would be sidelined “the first two or maybe three months” of the season, which would have him out until early January.
It’s worth noting the 2026 Winter Olympics, the first in which NHL players are able to participate since 2014, take place in February. Tkachuk in June was one of the first six players named to Team USA, along with brother Brady Tkachuk, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy.
If Tkachuk is out that long, the Panthers would be able to place him on long-term injured reserve to begin the season. That would temporarily take Tkachuk’s $9.5 million cap hit off the books while he is sidelined. Florida needs that because the Panthers were already $3.725 million over the salary cap prior to Kunin’s signing (financial figures have not yet been disclosed). Players placed on LTIR must miss a minimum of 10 games or 24 days (whichever is longer).
If Tkachuk doesn’t land on LTIR — or if he does and gets activated from it during the regular season — Florida would need to shed salary elsewhere to get cap compliant. That will most likely come in the form of trades. The players on the roster without no-trade clauses with cap hits of more than $1 million next season are forwards Anton Lundell ($5 million), Evan Rodrigues ($3 million), Eetu Luostainen ($3 million) and Jesper Boqvist ($1.5 million) plus defensemen Niko Mikkola ($2.5 million) and Dmitry Kulikov ($1.15 million).
Florida’s full list of 14 forwards under contract on one-way deals: Aleksander Barkov, Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Brad Marchand, Lundell, Rodrigues, Luostarinen, Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, Mackie Samoskevich and Kunin.
Be the first to comment