Sunrise, Fla. — Florida Panthers Hockey Operations & General Manager Bill Zetto Anaum confirmed today that the club has acquired goaltender Vitek Vanesek from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forward Patrick Giles.
The 29-year-old Vanecek played 18 games against the Sharks in 2024-25, scoring a 3-10-3 record, .882 save percentage and 3.88 goals against the average. He also played in one game with San Jose Barracuda, an affiliate of the American Hockey League (AHL) in San Jose.
Cekia is a 6-foot-2, 184-pound Hubrick Veffbrod native and appears in 181 career NHL games between San Jose (2024-25), the New Jersey Devils (2021-22-2023-24), and the Washington Capitals (2020-21-2021-22), making up 94-52-20 records against 94-52-20 records. Shut out. He also played in 10 career Stanley Cup playoff games between New Jersey (2022-23) and Washington (2020-21-2021-22).
Vanecek won 33 wins in New Jersey in 2022-23, tied down by the league goaltender’s seventh victory that season, becoming the second netminder in Devils history to record at least 30 wins in the season. His campaign included a 10-game winning streak from December 30, 2022 to February 6, 2023. In his rookie season from 2020-21, with his rookie season against Washington, Vanecek put together a 21-10-4 record and led all the rookie goaltenders.
He also played 143 career AHL games between San Jose (2024-25) and the Hershey Bears (2015-16 to 2019-20, 2021-22, 2021-22), accumulating a record of 72-44-16-11. He represented Hershey in the 2019 AHL All-Star Game.
On the international stage, Vanecek won the Czech Republic’s leading silver medal at the 2014 IIHF U18 World Junior Championship, scoring a 4-2-0 record.
Vanecek was originally selected by Washington in the second round of the 2014 NHL Draft (39th overall).
The Florida Panthers are operating this season! 2024-25 Single Game Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased from SeatGeek.com or the Amerant Bank Arena Box Office (Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm). Fans interested in season ticket membership for the 2025-26 season are encouraged to join the waitlist by clicking here to visit floridapanthers.com/tickets or calling Puckline (954.835.puck).
