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Looking Back at the Top PTOs in Florida Panthers History
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- Looking Back at the Top PTOs in Florida Panthers History
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The Florida Panthers will open training camp in about three weeks and their roster looks pretty much set.
The Panthers, like most teams, usually have a couple of players who did not sign as free agents during the offseason come to training camp on what is called a professional tryout, or PTO.
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There has been some speculation that Florida could make such an offer to former 40-goal scorer Patrik Laine, although that, as of right now, is simply just speculative .
Last year, Noah Gregor was in camp with the Panthers on a PTO and was signed just before the season started and was on Florida's opening night roster.
Gregor ended up splitting time with the Panthers and AHL Charlotte Checkers. He scored four goals with nine points in 37 games with Florida; he had 17 points in 26 games for the Checkers.
He signed with the Winnipeg Jets this offseason, so he will not be back for camp in Fort Lauderdale next month.
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The Panthers have had limited success with players on PTOs over the years — but that's just the nature of that situation.
After all, most of the roster is set around July 2, so anyone coming to camp has a long hill to climb.
But the Panthers have had two players make a splash off of PTOs over the past few years.
Perhaps the biggest PTO find for the Panthers was Brad Boyes in 2013.
Boyes attended training camp in 2013, the time around when Vinnie Viola bought the team, and he impressed.
The Panthers did not have much of an offseason that year what with the team being for sale and all, and Boyes figured he had a pretty good shot at making the team just by, well, showing up.
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And that turned out to be the case.
Boyes spend the previous season with the New York Islanders but after Viola bought the team, then-GM Dale Tallon had a little money to spend and brought in Tim Thomas to be Florida's new goalie — and he was able to sign Boyes to an NHL contract on Sept. 28.
During the 2013-14 season, the Panthers made a lot of moves, including firing coach Kevin Dineen and re-acquiring Roberto Luongo in a blockbuster deal at the deadline with Vancouver.
The Panthers went 29-45-8 that year with a paltry 66 points.
The leading scorer was youngster Nick Bjugstad with a whopping 38 points off 16 goals.
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Rookie Sasha Barkov had eight goals and 24 points in 54 goals during a season that was hampered due to knee injuries including a season-ending injury at the 2014 Olympics.
Boyes?
He led the team with 21 goals.
The Panthers later gave Boyes a new two-year contract woth $2.6 million annually to stick around — although they ended up buying out the final year of that deal after he scored 14 goals during the 2014-15 season.
Another top PTO player for the Panthers ended up helping them advance to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.
Eric Staal was not your usual PTO offer considering he was the former captain of the Paul Maurice-coached Carolina Hurricanes.
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But in 2022, Staal had not played in the NHL the previous season and by giving him a PTO — one that was offered early in the offseason after Florida signed his brother Marc to be one of their defensemen — it was a low-risk, high-reward move.
Eric Staal came to camp knowing he was probably going to make the Panthers but, since they had no salary cap space, he did not sign right away.
After training camp ended, Staal still did not have a contract but he remained in South Florida working with the Panthers as a non-roster player.
When Aaron Ekblad got hurt in October, some cap space opened up, and Staal officially joined the team.
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"I have signed a few contracts in my day, but that one felt good," he said that day.
"I had put the time and the effort. I spent the when no one's looking time wondering what was ahead, but I was staying with it. I have definitely signed different types of contracts over my time, that one definitely felt very good and it was a culmination of a bunch of people helping push me to get back to this point."
Staal played a nice bottom-6 role for the Panthers, playing in 72 regular season games. He scored 14 goals with 29 points.
In the playoffs, Staal played in 21 games for Florida and helped them to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996.
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Although the Panthers struggled for much of that 2022-23 season, they put it together when it counted most.
Staal's faith in the Panthers did not waver. When he came over in the summer, he said he believed Florida could make some magic and he ended up being right.
"I am just proud to be associated with this group," Staal said after Florida's 4-3 win over Carolina in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.
"This is such a determined, competitive bunch of guys. And they have been all year. It was tough at times. But it is fun in this moment. Yeah, we have work ahead of us but we can enjoy this.
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"I did not say that because I did not believe it. I did. I knew it. But it wasn't going to come easy because it doesn't in this league. It is just fun to be with these guys."
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
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NHL Free Agency: Opened July 1
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Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
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Panthers Training Camp: Starts Sept. 17; Fort Lauderdale
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Panthers Preseason (Four Games): Starts Sept. 20 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
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2026-27 NHL Season Opener: Florida at Carolina Hurricanes; Sept. 29, 5 p.m. (ESPN)
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2026-27 NHL Home Opener: Minnesota Wild at Florida; Oct. 10, 6 p.m. (Scripps)
This article: Looking Back at the Top PTOs in Florida Panthers History originally appeared on Florida Hockey Now.
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