Panthers invite Nathan Bastian to training camp on PTO
The Florida Panthers have invited forward Nathan Bastian to their 2026 training camp on a professional tryout (PTO) basis, the club announced Tuesday evening.
Bastian, 28, spent the 2025-26 season playing in the Dallas Stars organization, skating in 36 NHL games with the club and collecting seven points (six goals, one assist). The 6’4″ right wing also appeared in four AHL games with the Texas Stars, recording two goals and three points.
The Panthers unveiled their entire training camp roster on Tuesday, with Bastian featured. The Kitchener, Ont. product will wear No. 11 on his jersey with Florida; as a veteran of more than 100 NHL games, he’ll be limited to appearing in just two of Florida’s four preseason games.
A second-round pick (No. 41 overall) of the New Jersey Devils in the 2016 NHL Draft, Bastian spent the entirety of his junior career with the OHL’s Mississauga Steelheads before turning pro with the AHL’s Binghamton Devils for the 2017-18 season.
Bastian debuted with New Jersey in the 2018-19 season, collecting three goals in his first seven NHL games with the Devils. He emerged as a regular presence in the lineup in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, racking up three goals and 10 points in 41 games; immediately thereafter, the Seattle Kraken selected Bastian from the Devils in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
After 12 largely unproductive games with the Kraken to begin the 2021-22 season, Bastian returned to New Jersey via the waiver wire and spent four more years in the Garden State, most notably skating in 12 playoff contests with the Devils in 2023 and five more in 2025. Following the 2024-25 season, the Devils allowed Bastian to leave for the Stars as a free agent.
Through 312 career games over parts of seven seasons with the Devils, Kraken, and Stars, Bastian has collected 39 goals, 75 points, and 211 penalty minutes. He’s added a goal and an assist in 17 career playoff contests.
