Vladimir Tarasenko and the Florida Panthers are circling each other again, and the timing is hard to ignore.
Elliotte Friedman said on Friday's 32 Thoughts that he's heard the two sides have been "kinda eyeing each other," with some mutual interest in play.
The veteran winger is an unrestricted free agent. The exhibition schedule is already rolling, and a 34-year-old sniper is still waiting on the right phone call.
Florida knows exactly what it would be getting. He dressed for 19 regular-season games with the Panthers in 2023-24 and put up 14 points.
Then came the spring. He added 9 points across 24 playoff games and left South Florida with a second Stanley Cup ring.
That's the version Bill Zito remembers. The more recent tape tells a messier story.
Tarasenko finished 2025-26 in Minnesota with 47 points in 75 games. Solid enough.
Paul Maurice could get a two-time Cup winner back on a bargain deal
But he also went minus-11 under John Hynes. That number follows a winger into free agency like a bad credit score.
The playoff résumé still travels. He owns 51 goals across 132 postseason games career-wise, and contenders notice that kind of number in September.
The long view holds up too. He's sitting at 709 points over 906 NHL games.
Florida's cap sheet already carries real weight at the top. Aleksander Barkov counts $10,000,000 against it, and Seth Jones sits at $9,500,000.
That's why his last contract matters. He carried a $4,750,000 cap hit through 2025-26, and a reunion anywhere near that figure feels like a stretch.
Here's the line Zito shouldn't cross. A one-year, show-me deal makes sense, but handing term to a 34-year-old coming off that Minnesota season would be a bad idea.
Bringing back a former Cup hero is a bit like pulling your favorite winter coat out of the closet. It still fits, mostly. You just start noticing where the seams have worn thin.
The Panthers dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to Tampa Bay on Saturday night. Matvei Shuravin and Sandis Vilmanis handled the scoring.
Next up is a road date in Carolina on Tuesday. Would a winger who already knows Paul Maurice's bench, and that locker room, change the math for this group?
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Friedman called it mutual interest. Nobody has put a number on paper yet, and until Zito does, Tarasenko keeps waiting while the camp clock keeps ticking.
Should the Panthers bring back Vladimir Tarasenko on a one-year deal?
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