Panthers Should Look at Jordan Binnington After Hellebuyck Lands in New Jersey

Florida's goaltending picture just got harder. The New Jersey Devils surprised the league on Friday afternoon by acquiring three-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, and they did it by reuniting him with Jack Hughes, the forward he just won Olympic gold alongside. For the Panthers, who had Hellebuyck on their list of preferred destinations according to reports from well-placed insiders, that's a door closing. My read is that Bill Zito shouldn't stop knocking, and the next name worth a phone call is Jordan Binnington.

Why Florida's current answer isn't holding

The Panthers didn't stand still in the offseason. Zito went after Jacob Markström, who is 36, to give the club a proven veteran in net, and Akira Schmid was already in the mix. The early returns haven't matched the plan. Through five appearances, Markström is 3-1-1 with a save percentage below .900. He left a game against the Buffalo Sabres after the first period and missed the next two contests.

He's now on the shelf again. Markström is out a minimum of 10 to 14 days after getting hurt in practice. That leaves Schmid to carry the load, and he's 2-2-1 with a 3.62 GAA and a .867 save percentage. Neither number is a disaster in isolation, but together they show a team that expected stability in goal and hasn't gotten it. When a Cup contender needs its backup to hold the fort this early, the margin for error gets thin fast.

What Binnington brings to the table

Binnington is the rare netminder whose résumé includes a Stanley Cup as a rookie. He was the starter for the St. Louis Blues during their run to their first and only title, beating the Boston Bruins in Game 7 at TD Garden. Ryan O'Reilly took the Conn Smythe, but Binnington was in the conversation after going 16-10 with a 2.46 GAA and a .914 save percentage in that postseason.

His international credentials have grown too. With Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury no longer in the picture, Binnington moved to the top of Canada's goalie depth chart. He helped Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off, beating the United States in the final, and he earned the starting job at the Olympics. In the gold medal game he went head-to-head with Hellebuyck, who made his final save before Hughes scored the overtime winner. That's a goalie who handles high-pressure moments and has the scar tissue to show for it.

Over 380 regular season games, Binnington is 187-138-43 with a 2.85 GAA and a .903 save percentage. He has also been a fixture in St. Louis playoff pictures across the decade, with the Blues reaching the postseason in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025. Those aren't Vezina numbers, but they describe a starter who has spent years carrying a team through a tough division.

There was a rough patch. Between 2022 and 2023 he piled up 43 penalty minutes, and the bench-clearing temper that once defined his game seems to have cooled. That kind of maturity tends to come with age, and it matters for a goalie who will be asked to stay steady through a long Florida season.

Why St. Louis might be ready to move on

The Blues have been shifting their goaltending toward Joel Hofer, who has taken over more and more of the starts. Hofer has started seven of St. Louis' 10 games this season. Last year Binnington appeared in only 41 games and went 13-20-7, the worst record of his career as a full-time NHL netminder. Those are the numbers of a player whose role is shrinking.

That's the context, but to be clear, no trade talks involving Binnington have been reported. This is the writer's argument about where the Blues and Panthers might find common ground, not a report that a deal is in motion. St. Louis has been adding pieces and tweaking its roster, yet it hasn't been a consistently dominant playoff team in the Central Division. If the Blues are rebuilding their goaltending group around Hofer, a veteran starter may be more of a cost than an asset to them.

The cap problem is real

Here's the thing: the money has to work. Binnington carries a $6 million cap hit, the same figure as Markström's contract, and that number is $2.5 million less than the deal Hellebuyck signed with New Jersey. The Panthers don't have that kind of room sitting around, so a Binnington pursuit would require creativity. Zito could look at moving an existing contract or finding another way to open space under the cap. None of that is simple, but a $6 million goalie is a more realistic target than a $8.5 million one.

Teams in Florida's spot typically face the same tradeoff. A contender with an aging starter and a shaky backup has to decide whether a short-term fix is worth the salary-cap gymnastics. Binnington's contract is a middle ground: expensive enough to demand a real return, but nowhere near the top of the market.

What to watch next

Markström's timeline will determine how urgent this gets. If he's back in two weeks and rounds into form, Florida can wait and see. If the injuries keep piling up and Schmid's numbers don't improve, the pressure on Zito to act will grow quickly. Watch for how the Panthers handle their goaltending rotation over the next few weeks, and watch whether St. Louis keeps giving Hofer the majority of the starts. Those two signals will tell you whether a Binnington conversation is a real possibility or just a good idea on paper. For a team that expects to contend for the Cup, it's not too late to find a proven netminder who can steady the crease.