Panthers Enter NHL Draft Day 2 With 6 Picks After Dealing 2 First-Rounders

Q: With no first-round picks until 2030, is the Tkachuk brothers' reunion the Panthers' last shot at another Stanley Cup?

No. The Brady Tkachuk trade looks like Florida’s clearest win-now push, but it is not necessarily the Panthers’ last realistic Stanley Cup chance. The move is expensive: Florida dealt its 2026 first-rounders and a conditional 2029 first to Ottawa, leaving the club without a projected first-round pick until at least 2030 unless it acquires one later. That raises the stakes on this current core and puts more pressure on Bill Zito’s pro scouting, free-agent work and later-round drafting. But the Panthers’ window is not closed after this season. The team’s 2025-26 miss came after major injuries, most notably Aleksander Barkov losing the entire season. A healthy Barkov, plus Matthew Tkachuk and now Brady Tkachuk, gives Florida a proven top-end core that already has championship pedigree after the 2024 and 2025 Cup runs. Brady also has two years left on his contract, so this is not a one-spring gamble. The bigger threat to Florida’s future is not only the missing first-round picks. It is whether the Panthers can keep the roster deep enough under the cap, especially in goal, where Sergei Bobrovsky’s free agency creates uncertainty. If they solve that and get healthier, they remain a serious contender in 2026-27. What the trade does mean is that Florida has chosen a narrower path. Without premium draft capital, the margin for error is smaller. The Tkachuk reunion is best viewed as an aggressive extension of the Panthers’ Cup window, not its final shot.

3 articles · Updated · Florida Hockey Now · Jun 27

Florida heads into Saturday’s final six rounds with six selections, led by second-round picks No. 40 and No. 48, after trading away both first-rounders in the Brady Tkachuk deal.
Bill Zito said the Panthers could still jump back into Round 1 if the right call came, but otherwise the club is set to work from Day 2 and may not own a first-round pick again until 2030.
Those six picks are spread across Rounds 2, 4, 6 and 7, putting added weight on a scouting group Zito praised for finding value outside the opening round.
Florida’s recent later-round hits include Sandis Vilmanis, Gracyn Sawchyn and Jack Devine, a track record the Panthers hope to extend as free agency opens July 1.