Panthers sit out quiet Day 1 of NHL Draft, but Anthony Duclair trade rumors keep swirling

The NHL offseason truly got underway Wednesday with Round 1 of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft in Nashville and, unsurprisingly, it was a quiet start for the Florida Panthers.

Really, it was a quiet start for the whole league. Not a single team made a trade during the first round.

“We investigated a few different things, but it’s OK,” general manager Bill Zito said.

The Panthers, for the second straight year, did not have a first-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft and wound up sitting out Day 1, despite trade conversations continuing to swirl across the league.

Florida is right in the middle of them because it’s how Zito always operates.

In fact, it’s why this NHL Draft will be another quiet one for the Panthers. Florida traded away every one of its first-round picks from 2022-2025 — the Canadiens owned the Panthers’ first-round pick this year because of Florida’s deal for defenseman Ben Chiarot, now a Red Wing, ahead of the trade deadline last year and the Avalanche took Russian defenseman Mikhail Gulyayev at No. 31 after getting the pick from Montreal in a trade Tuesday — and has only five picks in Rounds 2-7 on the second and final day of the Draft, which begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena..

The Panthers own their own picks in Rounds 2, 4, 5 and 6 and the Coyotes’ in Round 7 — Nos. 63, 127, 159, 191 and 198 overall.

Although Florida has about $10 million in cap space to use this offseason and Zito admitted there is a sentimental part of him hoping to keep the roster essentially intact from last season after a run to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, trades will almost certainly be part of the Panthers’ summer equation with nine everyday players entering the final seasons of their contract.

Right wing Anthony Duclair has been right in the middle of trade rumors this week. Florida is hoping to pry Noah Hanifin away from the Flames, The Athletic reported, and Duclair — who will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason — would be part of a potential deal for the defenseman.

Like superstar right wing Matthew Tkachuk did in Calgary last year, Hanifin has made it clear he’s unlikely to sign an extension with the Flames and it could force Calgary’s hand with the 26-year-old American entering the final year of his contract.

Defensemen Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour are also entering the final years of their contracts, and Florida wants to figure out some long-term certainty with its cap situation with so many core players nearing free agency. The $10 million in cap space is plenty to sign a handful of good players, but also deceiving because signing anyone to multi-year deals would cut into future spending capabilities for some of those looming free agents.