Forward Patric Hornqvist was acquired in a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Colton Sceviour on Sept. 24, three weeks after the Panthers hired Bill Zito to replace Dale Tallon as general manager Sept. 2.
Hornqvist, who won the Cup with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017, has scored 480 points (238 goals, 242 assists) in 770 regular-season games with the Penguins and Nashville Predators, and 46 points (25 goals, 21 assists) in 90 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
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Hornqvist will be asked to help replace the production of forwards
Mike Hoffman
and Evgenii Dadonov. Hoffman, an unrestricted free agent, led Florida with 29 goals last season, including 11 on the power play, and three goals in a four-game loss to the New York Islanders in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers. Dadonov, who was fourth on the Panthers with 47 points (25 goals, 22 assists), signed as a free agent with the Ottawa Senators.
"I'm super excited for this opportunity," Hornqvist said. "I think they have a great group of young core players. [Center Aleksander] Barkov is probably the most underrated player in the League, and I'm super excited to play with him and with the coach (Joel Quenneville) we have too; he knows what we need to win, and I think that's the reason they want me there too."
The Panthers also added forward Carter Verhaeghe, who won the Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, and defenseman Radko Gudas, who will provide a physical presence.
"I know that the players that we've added are professionals," Zito said Oct. 9, "and I know that to a man that the players that we've added care about winning and they're all character people."
Here is what the Panthers look like today:
