Panthers’ Fourth-Line Battle Boils Down to Three Opening Spots After a Season of Call-Ups

Florida’s 2025-26 season may have ended with the Panthers missing the playoffs, but it clarified an important internal question for the next roster cycle: who can reliably play fourth-line hockey when the lineup is healthy and the margins tighten. A recent look at Florida’s bottom-six situation frames the coming training-camp race around three available spots on the fourth line, even though nearly six different players have already shown they can handle the role when called upon.

The starting point for that discussion is the assumption that Florida’s top nine is largely “solidified,” barring trades or free-agent moves. In that projection, Aleksander Barkov anchors the top line, with Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett operating as the middle-six centers. The wing groups are described as stable as well, with Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen on the left and Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, and the Brad Marchand mix on the right side. Mackie Samoskevich is also mentioned as a left-wing possibility, contingent on whether he is re-signed.

Once that structure is in place, the Panthers’ remaining roster spots funnel into the fourth line, where responsibilities tend to include energy shifts, puck-recovery work, and execution in low-margin situations. The way the season went, injuries created repeated opportunities for players below the top nine to earn bigger roles, and the group that emerged is now part of the decision the front office faces heading into camp.

The clearest name in that middle of the competition is A.J. Greer, who is characterized in the discussion as effectively departing. Greer is expected to reach unrestricted free agency, meaning Florida may be unable to retain him if other teams offer terms the Panthers cannot match. If Greer is off the board, the list of candidates for the fourth-line roles becomes more crowded: the same assessment points to Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, Sandis Vilmanis, Cole Schwindt, Cole Reinhardt, and Jonah Gadjovich.

Veteran depth adds a second layer to the camp competition. Tomas Nosek, described as a UFA, is treated as a possibility among the options for the fourth line, even if it is not guaranteed. Meanwhile, Schwindt is identified as the only one of the six primary names who needs an updated contract, but because he is listed as a pending restricted free agent, Florida would retain his rights if negotiations continue in-house.

Taken together, the situation reads like a numbers problem as much as a hockey question. Nearly six skaters are presented as capable of handling the same “fourth-line role,” while Florida’s projected top nine restricts the opening roster opportunities to three. That naturally turns the selection into a comparison of fit, reliability, and how each player’s skill set translates to the specific demands of the bottom six, including the ability to keep lines matched through the toughest game states.

The Panthers’ most immediate watch point is whether the Greer assumption holds and whether any external moves reshape the candidate pool before camps open. If Greer does leave, the fourth-line jobs likely become more clearly assigned among Rodrigues, Boqvist, Vilmanis, Schwindt, Reinhardt, and Gadjovich, with Nosek functioning as a wildcard. If Florida makes additional transactions in the offseason, the “six options for three spots” premise could change quickly, but for now it defines the roster story coming out of the season.