The Florida Panthers enter the 2025-26 season the same way they entered last season, as defending Stanley Cup champions. They look to replicate the late and great Mike Bossy and the early 1980s New York Islanders by winning three straight Stanley Cups.
Before the trade deadline last season, general manager Bill Zito decided to trade away the team’s backup goaltender, Spencer Knight, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for defenseman Seth Jones, pivotal for said Cup win. While the defensive piece worked out great for the team, it left a gaping hole at the backup goaltender position. They did go out and grab Vitek Vanecek to fill the void at the deadline. However, he did not do great in seven appearances, with a 3.00 goals-against average (GAA) and a .890 save percentage (SV%). Eventually, he signed with the Utah Mammoth, leaving that hole open once again.
As a result, the team went out and traded a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for goaltender Daniil Tarasov. He hopes to make an impact in the team’s backup position.
Tarasov Had a Great Showing in His Postseason Appearance against the Hurricanes
In his second preseason game as a Panther, Tarasov had an incredible performance against most of the starters for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Related: Barkov Injury Could Attract Panthers to Big Trade with Penguins
He finished the game by stopping a whopping 47 of 49 shots on goal, leaving him with a .958 SV%. Additionally, he faced over 10 shots in every single period. Furthermore, he stopped forward Seth Jarvis seven times.
This comes after a rough go at it on Sept. 21 in his first preseason match against the Nashville Predators. That night, he stopped 15 of 18 and finished with a .833 SV%. Granted, it’s only preseason, but it was not a good first look.
Can Tarasov Improve His Stats?
Although he was on a struggling Blue Jackets team, Tarasov has not really been the best in his four seasons in the NHL. He’s mentioned how much it affected him, but he’s using it as motivation.
“In terms of personal results, it wasn’t what I hoped for. But there were positives — especially in terms of character. I had to deal with challenges I had never faced before in my career. Everything used to go more or less smoothly. But in the second half of the season, things began to improve. That showed I had made the right adjustments. It helped me understand the kind of character I have and the kind of challenges I can overcome. That will definitely help in the future,”
Daniil Tarasov on last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Through 65 games played and 61 starts in his NHL career, he’s only won 19 games with a shutout. On top of that, he has an overall SV% of .898 and a GAA of 3.44. He has a chance to revive his career down in South Florida, especially now that he’s playing backup to his Dad’s idol in Sergei Bobrovsky.
Could Tarasov Be the Future in Net for Florida?
For a long time, Knight was originally supposed to be the guy who took the reins once Bobrovsky retired or his contract expired; the latter is set to happen next summer. But with him gone, Tarasov has the chance to take over.
Related: Panthers Aleksander Barkov Set to Miss 2025-26 Season Due to Injury
He comes into a championship locker room that is hungry for a third straight Cup, and that type of drive is contagious to anyone new.
