The Florida Panthers are closing in on a five-player deal that would bring Jacob Markstrom back to the Sunshine State and reshape their goaltending picture in the process.
Per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Florida is nearing a trade with the New Jersey Devils for the veteran netminder, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting that forward Evan Rodrigues is expected to be part of the return. LeBrun also reported that no salary was retained on Markstrom’s contract.
The full package would send Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves to New Jersey, while the Panthers would receive Markstrom and forward Angus Crookshank, per LeBrun. Rodrigues, Boqvist and Crookshank each have one year left on their contracts, while Steeves is due to become a restricted free agent.
For Florida, the timing says plenty. The Panthers already added Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday, and these moves now put Sergei Bobrovsky on track to hit the open market on Wednesday. Bobrovsky’s final season of his seven-year, $70MM deal with Florida - signed in 2019 - was a rough one, as he posted a career-low performance in the 2025-26 season.
That finish stands in sharp contrast to the peaks Bobrovsky reached in South Florida. He had a save percentage above .905 in four of his seven years on the contract, including a .915 Sv% in 2023-24.
That season also saw him lead the NHL with six shutouts, then carry the Panthers to the 2024 Stanley Cup. He kept rolling in 2024-25 with a .905 Sv% and five shutouts in the regular season before helping Florida win a second straight Cup.
But injuries and lineup changes helped drag him down to a career-low .877 Sv% in the 2025-27 season, the lowest mark of any goaltender with at least 50 games played this season, even with four shutouts mixed in.
Markstrom arrives with his own bounce-back story in mind. The 36-year-old finished this season with 23 wins and a .883 Sv% in 44 appearances, a career-low showing after two straight seasons above .900.
Still, Florida is betting on the version of Markstrom who was one of the league’s most effective goalies just a few years ago. In 2021-22 with Calgary, he put up 37 wins, a league-leading nine shutouts and a .922 Sv% in 63 games, finishing as the Vezina Trophy runner-up behind Igor Shesterkin and earning Vezina votes for only the second time in his 16-year NHL career.
There’s also some familiarity baked into the move. Markstrom started his NHL career with four seasons in Florida, where he posted 11 wins and a .898 Sv% in 43 games with the Panthers. Across 16 seasons and 578 games, he has averaged 37 wins and a .907 Sv% per 82 games played.
He is set to begin a two-year, $12MM contract with New Jersey that was signed in October, 2025, and his $6MM cap hit gives Florida a number that fits neatly under a cap ceiling the club is already using almost in full. The Panthers will be hoping the change of scenery - along with better team defense - gets Markstrom back on track.
In Other News...
Panthers Just Turned Bobrovsky Into A Huge Atlantic Story
Sergei Bobrovskys next stop is suddenly one of the more intriguing goalie questions on the market, and the ripple effect is being felt well beyond South Florida. With the Panthers moving in a different direction in net, Bobrovsky is expected to reach unrestricted free agency, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have already surfaced as one of the teams keeping close watch.
For Toronto, the appeal is obvious enough: a proven starter becomes available at a time when the club is weighing its options between the pipes. But any real pursuit would come with the usual hard questions about contract length, value and how much risk a team wants to absorb for a goalie entering his late 30s. If the Maple Leafs go that route, they may also have to clear space in a crowded goaltending picture, which only adds another layer to a decision that could shape the market quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Evan Rodrigues Just Reopened A Familiar Sabres Debate
Evan Rodrigues move to New Jersey closed the book on another productive stretch in Florida, where he became one of the more reliable depth pieces on a roster built to win. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has been exactly the sort of versatile, playoff-tested forward contenders value, and his path through several NHL stops only adds to the sense that he can fit just about anywhere a team needs him.
For the Panthers, though, the deal also leaves behind a familiar kind of conversation about what he brought and what his departure means for the room. Rodrigues arrives with one year left on his contract before hitting unrestricted free agency, which gives the Devils a short-term veteran addition and Florida a chance to reshape its forward depth with an eye on what comes next. [Read more 🡒]