Panthers Acquire Vladimir Tarasenko From Senators

11:33 a.m.: The Senators confirmed the trade and all its parts in a team release Wednesday morning.

10:45 a.m.: The Panthers are nearing a deal to acquire pending UFA winger Vladimir Tarasenko from the Senators, according to reports from Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Florida is sending a 2025 third-round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-round pick to Ottawa, who retains 50% of Tarasenko’s $5MM cap hit, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The 2024 fourth-rounder will upgrade to a 2026 third-round pick if the Panthers win the Stanley Cup.

Since no roster players are being sent back to the Sens, the Panthers must place a player on waivers and assign them a non-roster designation in the interim to create space. They have no open roster spots or waiver-exempt players to assign to AHL Charlotte. Swallowing Tarasenko’s reduced $2.5MM cap hit still leaves Florida with roughly $3.2MM in space ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.

Tarasenko joins his fourth team in the past two seasons and, based on previous reporting from Garrioch, ends up in his preferred destination. The 32-year-old has complete no-trade protection as part of the one-year deal he signed with Ottawa last summer, which he waived to approve the move to Florida.

In acquiring Tarasenko, Panthers GM Bill Zito addresses his squad’s most significant need on paper – another winger to ride shotgun with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. 30-year-old Nick Cousins, who has just five goals and 10 points in 51 games, has been shouldering top-six minutes with Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues finding chemistry together on Florida’s third line.

The defending Eastern Conference champions are now deeper than ever, adding Tarasenko’s 17 goals and 41 points this season to an offense that already ranked eighth in goals per game. Even his middle-of-the-pack possession metrics should be an improvement over the struggling Cousins, who’s hurt both the Bennett and Lundell lines, per MoneyPuck. When flanked by Carter Verhaeghe, Bennett and Tkachuk have controlled 60.4% of expected goals compared to 51.8% with Cousins.

It’s likely not the return the Sens wanted for their highest-value rental, especially with salary retention included. The extent to which Tarasenko’s no-trade clause limited Sens GM Steve Staios’ options for a return is unknown. Two draft picks are better than none, though, and there was little reason for Ottawa to hold onto Tarasenko…