Florida Panthers Trade for Vitek Vanecek

The Florida Panthers traded for San Jose Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek.

The Florida Panthers reportedly acquired goaltender Vitek Vanecek from the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

Florida was in need of a back-up goaltender after trading Spencer Knight to Chicago for Seth Jones — and they got one.

The Panthers sent rookie forward Patrick Giles to San Jose in exchange for the 29-year-old netminder.

Florida now has $5.3 million in cap space remaining with Matthew Tkachuk on long-team injured reserve after taking on Vanecek’s $3.4 million cap hit.

Vanecek is 3-10-3 with a .882 save percentage and a 3.88 goals-against average this season for the Sharks.

He previously played for the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals and has a career record of 92-54-20 with a .903 save percentage and a 2.82 goals-against average.

Vanecek had his best season in 2022-23, when he went 33-11-4 with a .911 save percentage and a 2.45 goals-against average and led the Devils to the playoffs as the starter.

This is a developing story which will be updated when more information becomes available.