The Florida Panthers are set to acquire goaltender Jacob Markstrom and centre Angus Crookshank from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for forward Evan Rodrigues, centre Jesper Boqvist, and prospect Ben Steeves.
According to reports, New Jersey will not retain any salary as part of the deal. The deal all but confirms that Florida and longtime netminder Sergei Bobrovsky will be parting ways this summer. Earlier in the week the club swung a deal to acquire goalie Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights. Now it appears as thought Markstrom and Schmid will form a new tandem in the Sunshine State.
It’s a reunion of sorts for Markstrom and the Panthers as the 36 year old returns to the club that drafted him 31st overall back in 2008. The native of Gavle, Sweden made his NHL debut with the team in 2010-11, and would go on to play 43 games for the Panthers over the course of the next 4 seasons.
Markstrom would eventually be traded alongside Shawn Matthias to the Vancouver Canucks in 2014 in exchange for Roberto Luongo and Steven Anthony.
Across 44 games in 2025-26 Markstrom posted a 23-19-1 record with a 3.07 GAA and .883 SV%. Both his goals against average and save percentage were the worst marks for the netminder in the last decade, meaning that Florida will be hoping for a bounce back campaign from their former draft pick.
Heading the other way, Rodrigues helped the Panthers capture back to back Stanley Cups in 2024/2025, while Boqvist was on the 2025 winning team. Steeves potted 23 goals for the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) last season, and could be ready to make the jump to the NHL this upcoming season.
With that piece of business taken care of, both teams will now turn their attention to free agency which kicks off Wednesday at 12pm ET.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.