2024 NHL Trade Deadline: Panthers Add Tarasenko, Okposo to Roster

FORT LAUDERDALE — The 2024 NHL Trade Deadline has officially passed and the Florida Panthers welcomed some new faces to the team. 

The Panthers made a few trades on deadline week — adding two veteran forwards to the already stacked roster.

Florida’s biggest deal was made on the Wednesday before the deadline, when they acquired four-time All-Star Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators. 

“He’s just a smart player. He gets to where he needs to, movies the puck at the right time.” head coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s a good, veteran guy that I think can develop chemistry with just about anybody.”

Florida sent Ottawa a 2024 conditional fourth-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick for the 2019 Stanley Cup champion. 

Just a few hours before the deadline passed on Friday, the Panthers traded for another veteran forward, acquiring former Buffalo Sabres captain, Kyle Okposo. 

“I’m just looking forward to being a piece,” Okposo told ESPN on Friday. “You can just tell what kind of team they are by the way they compete and the way they place on the ice.”

Okposo, 35, has appeared in over 1,000 NHL games across his 16-year career, between the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres. 

“I love how they play. They play nasty, in your face,” Okposo added. “It’s gonna be a lot of fun to kind of learn the intricacies of their style and a how a coach like Paul Maurice wants to do things.”

The former Sabres captain played with current Panthers Brandon Montour, Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart in Buffalo. While it is nice that he will has some familiarity in Sunrise, that didn’t play into the equation for the Panthers.

“It’s a wonderful convenience. He’s such a player that if we hadn’t had any of his former teammates it wouldn’t have changed my mind,” Panthers GM Bill Zito said of Okposo. “It’s a very nice element, sort of eases the transition. To that extent it’s very valuable.”

Florida traded 24-year-old Calle Sjalin (Charlotte Checkers) and a 2024 conditional seventh-round pick for Okposo. 

In the final hour of the deadline, the Panthers acquired goaltender Magnus Hellberg from the Pittsburgh Penguins, in exchange for goaltender Ludovic Waeber and a 2025 conditional seventh-round pick.

Florida made this move because of Hellberg’s experience playing in North America. He’s a 32-year-old with multiple years of experience in the AHL and a decent amount of NHL games — this was an insurance move for the Panthers organization in net. Waeber, 27, is still in his first year of North American professional hockey after spending his entire career in Europe.

They also claimed 22-year-old Tobias Bjornfot off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights. Bjornfot was a first-round pick of the LA Kings in 2019.  

“Tobias is a great professional with an extremely strong work ethic,” Zito said. “We are excited for him to get to work within the Panthers organization.”

Bjornfot has 119 NHL games under his belt and played 70 games in 2021-22 with the Kings.

“He’s 22. A recent first-round pick. He’s already played almost a full season in the league,” Zito said. “We look at is as a prospect with some pretty significant upside.”

The Panthers were able to not only players who they believe will contribute to the team down as the playoffs roll around, but they also didn’t trade away a single NHL roster player or lose anyone on waivers.

Deadline Guide 

IN: Vladimir Tarasenko (Acquired from Ottawa), Kyle Okposo (Acquired from Buffalo), Magnus Hellberg (Acquired from Pittsburgh), Tobias Bjornfot (Waivers from Vegas), 2025 conditional 7th round pick (FLA)

OUT: Calle Sjalin, Ludovic Waeber, 2024 7th round pick (FLA) [Conditional], 2024 4th round pick (FLA) [Conditional], 2025 3rd round pick (FLA) 

CONDITIONS: 2024 7th round pick upgrades to a 2024 5th round pick if Florida wins the Stanley Cup. 2024 4th round pick upgrades to a 2026 3rd round pick if Florida wins the Stanley Cup in 2023-24