The Florida Panthers have slipped in The Athletic’s annual NHL contract efficiency rankings, dropping from fourth to eighth, even though they still came away with an A- grade after a season defined by injuries and inconsistency.
Dom Luszczyszyn pointed to a mix of age, injuries and a couple of recent extensions that were merely fair - Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola among them - but said the bigger reason for the fall was the rest of the league closing the gap. Florida’s average positive value and total surplus are both almost unchanged from last season; the difference is that other teams have started posting better numbers.
That leaves the Panthers in a familiar spot but not an untouchable one. A healthier return to form would help their standing heading into next season, though the aging curve across the roster makes that far from automatic. With the East getting stronger, even the two-time champs have plenty to prove.
On the prospect front, Shea Busch was one of 12 healthy scratches for Canada in a 5-3 loss to Sweden at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Canada faces Finland tonight at 7 p.m., and Busch is expected to draw into the lineup.
Elsewhere around the league, the San Jose Sharks locked up Macklin Celebrini with the richest contract in franchise history, a five-year extension worth $94 million. The deal carries an average annual value of $18.8 million. Celebrini finished last season with 115 points, fourth-most in the NHL, and placed fourth in Hart Trophy voting.
The Detroit Red Wings kept goaltender Carter Gylander in the organization on a one-year, two-way deal worth $850K. He went 20-9-5 with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and was 7-0-1 with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins in 2025-26.
The New Jersey Devils also retained a young defenseman, re-signing Topias Vilén to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850K. Vilén recorded 4 goals and 27 points in 61 games for the Utica Comets and appeared in his first two NHL games with New Jersey last season.
In Other News...
Panthers Prospects Are Suddenly In The Spotlight This Weekend
The World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario, wraps up this weekend with Finland meeting Sweden and the United States taking on Canada, a pair of games that will keep plenty of NHL front offices tuned in. For the Panthers, the event has put a couple of prospect names in the spotlight at just the right time, as teams use one last look in a meaningful setting before the calendar turns toward training camp and a busier stretch of roster decisions around the league.
Vilho Vanhatalo is slated to suit up for Finland against Sweden after collecting one goal and one assist in four games, while Shea Busch could get another crack at Canada after appearing in Thursdays 5-3 win over Finland. Those performances matter because this is the sort of week when a young player can shift from simply being part of the pipeline to being someone the organization starts tracking a little more closely, even as the bigger international story around the tournament continues to grow. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Just Closed The Book On A Trusted Cup Run Piece
Tomas Noseks time in South Florida covered two seasons, but it came with a meaningful imprint on a Panthers group that finished the job in the Stanley Cup Final. Across an 11-season NHL career and 514 regular-season games with multiple teams, he settled into the kind of reliable depth role contenders lean on, the sort of player who can disappear in the best possible way until the biggest moments arrive.
Now his next step takes him away from the NHL picture, with his offseason move pointing him back to familiar territory overseas for the upcoming season. For the Panthers, its another reminder of how much turnover follows a championship run, even for players whose names may not always dominate the headlines but whose presence matters when the stakes are highest. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Have An Edge If The Atlantic Gets Drained Again
With the Atlantic Division again looking like a grind, the conversation around how teams handle a compressed schedule is starting to feel familiar. One of the bigger questions is whether roster shape mattered as much as raw talent last season, especially for clubs that leaned heavily on veteran stars and sent a large chunk of their top players into Olympic play.
Buffalo and Montreal are held up as examples of younger, more evenly spread-out lineups that may have been better positioned to absorb the wear and tear, while Florida and the other Atlantic teams are part of the broader comparison because of how many players they sent. The underlying issue is less about one tournament than about what happens when a long season gets squeezed, and whether teams built around older core pieces can keep pace if the schedule gets tight again. [Read more 🡒]