Florida Panthers sign forward Oliver Okuliar to one-year, entry-level contract

The undrafted Okuliar comes over to North America after spending the last two seasons with Mountfield HK of the Czech Extraliga. The Trencin, Slovakia native led the team in scoring this season, registering 24 goals and 45 points in 52 games. Okuliar helped Mountfield get to the league’s quarterfinals, falling to eventual finalist HC Dynamo Pardubice.

He was also a key contributor during Mountfield’s run to the quarterfinals in the 2022-23 Champions Hockey League season, where the Czech side advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Swiss club EV Zug in overtime in the second leg.

This will not be the first time Okuliar has played in North America. In 2018-19, he played for the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League, before joining the Western Hockey League’s Lethbridge Hurricanes the following season.

Okuliar has also played professionally in his home country, spending the 2020-21 season with HK 32 Litovsky Mikulas and HK Dukla Trencin. The 23-year-old spent one season in Finland, playing for SaiPa of Liiga during the 2021-22 campaign.

Okuliar has represented his country on multiple occasions. He played for Slovakia during the 2018 IIHF Men’s Under-18 World Championship and the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. He made his senior national team debut in international competition at last year’s IIHF Men’s World Championship.

As a result of the signing, the Panthers have 31 standard player contracts signed through next season. According to CapFriendly, Florida has a projected cap space of $20.666 million for the 2024-25 campaign.