The Florida Panthers are closing in on a new deal with Eetu Luostarinen, and according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, it could be done as soon as tomorrow.
Luostarinen is heading into the 2026-27 season with one year and $3MM left on his current three-year, $9MM contract, but Florida appears ready to keep one of its most dependable depth pieces in place a little longer.
He may not carry the same spotlight as some of the bigger names in the lineup, but Luostarinen has carved out a real role for himself in Florida. The 27-year-old was taken 42nd overall in the 2017 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes and later shipped to the Panthers in the 2020 trade that sent Vincent Trocheck to Raleigh.
His time in Carolina barely got off the ground. Luostarinen appeared in eight NHL games for the Hurricanes in 2019-20, and spent most of that season with the Charlotte Checkers, where he put up eight goals and 25 points in 44 AHL games.
When he first arrived in Florida, the adjustment was rough. In 2020-21, he finished with three goals and eight points in 44 games, along with a -11 rating and 13:08 of ice time per night. The underlying numbers were fine, but the player on the ice still looked like someone searching for his footing.
That version of Luostarinen is long gone. Over the last five seasons with the Panthers, he has posted 58 goals and 153 points in 395 games, plus a +37 rating.
On an 82-game pace, that works out to 12 goals and 32 points a year. His 42.8% faceoff mark isn’t a strength, though Florida has leaned on him down the middle less than it once did.
He has also added more bite to his game. Luostarinen is now averaging well over 100 hits per season, production that fits the mold of a Panthers bottom-six forward and stands out as fairly atypical for a Finnish-born player.
And his value hasn’t been limited to the regular season. In the 2024-25 playoffs, the last time Florida won the Stanley Cup, Luostarinen scored five goals and 19 points in 23 games, finished at +11, and averaged 15:23 of ice time per contest.
If the Panthers can keep the price in the right range, Luostarinen looks like exactly the kind of player they need to hold onto as they try to get back in the hunt next season.
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Schwindts return stands out as more than a simple depth add, since he is back in Florida after a circuitous path through the league, while Petrovic is also getting another chance with the team that originally drafted him before he moved on. Around them, Eller brings the most established resume of the group and Sebrango gets another look after joining the Panthers on waivers last season, giving Florida a few different options as it rounds out the roster for the year ahead. [Read more 🡒]
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Schwindt, a Panthers draft pick from 2019, spent time in the lineup last season and should be in line for a bottom-six role if things break the way Florida expects. Petrovics return is even more of a reunion, with the veteran blue-liner coming back after years away from the team he once spent parts of seven seasons with, a move that could end up mattering more than it first appears. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Markstrom Trade Is Already Reshaping Another Contender
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There are still plenty of moving parts beyond the crease, from the forward mix to the blue line, and health could further change the way those roles settle in. Jesper Boqvist is part of the projected mix again after his previous four-season run with the club, while recent surgery for Arseni Gritsyuk and the loss of Simon Nemec from the defensive depth chart underline how unfinished this roster still is heading into the next phase. [Read more 🡒]