Florida Panthers add to defenseman depth with reported signing of veteran Nate Schmidt

On the first day of free agency, the Florida Panthers took care of several of their needs by stocking up on depth forwards and signing a backup goaltender.

On Day 2, the Panthers began rounding out their blue line by reportedly signing veteran defenseman Nate Schmidt to a one-year, $800,000 deal.

The Associated Press was first to report the deal.

The Panthers signed the 11-year veteran for a bargain because the Winnipeg Jets bought out the final year of his six-year, $35.7 million deal and are on the hook for paying him $5.95 million in the 2024-25 season.

Schmidt, who turns 32 on July 16, has played in 661 career games over his 11 seasons with the Washington Capitals (2013-2017), Vegas Golden Knights (2017-2020), Vancouver Canucks (2020-2021) and Jets (2021-2024). His first season with Winnipeg was Panthers coach Paul Maurice’s last. He has 220 career points (47 goals, 173 assists) and a plus-minus rating of plus-102.

With Schmidt’s signing, the Panthers’ defenseman group now includes Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola, Dmitry Kulikov, Uvis Balinskis, Tobias Bjornfot and Schmidt.

This is the second consecutive offseason the Panthers have tapped into the buyout market to shore up their blue line. Last offseason, Florida signed Oliver Ekman-Larsson as one of their slew of defenseman signings as they

Ekman-Larsson was pivotal in Florida’s run to a Stanley Cup. He worked with Forsling on the Panthers’ top defense pairing to start the season when Ekblad and Brandon Montour were recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and was a steady presence on the power play all season.

Now, they’re hoping to get similar results out of Schmidt as they try to repeat.