Jacob Markström starts his second stint with the Florida Panthers, and knows what's expected

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jacob Markström knows talent. That's why, in 2013, he tossed the keys to his Range Rover to a Florida Panthers rookie who needed to borrow a car for his driving test.

The rookie was Aleksander Barkov.

“I figured he’s probably going to make a lot of money because I saw him saw him in practice and he looked pretty darn good," Markström said. "I figured if he crashes the car, he can buy me a new one.”

Markstrom was right on all counts. Barkov didn't crash the car, wound up passing the test, became a highly paid superstar for the Panthers and has been largely obsessed with nice cars ever since. But he and Markström didn't stay teammates for long; they shared the ice for only 12 games before Markström got moved to Vancouver in the deal that returned Roberto Luongo to Florida.

Now, it's Markström's turn to take a big test. The 36-year-old is back in Florida, presumably taking over as the primary goaltender and filling the spot that Sergei Bobrovsky — who was in net for the Panthers' Stanley Cup championship runs in 2024 and 2025 — vacated when he decided to sign with Toronto this summer.

It's been made clear to Markström that he doesn't need to be Bobrovsky. Being himself should be plenty.

“We had some fun moments that first season when he was here," Barkov said. "I think he’s an unbelievable goalie. Big goalie, too. Covers a lot of the net, and he competes a lot. He's out there competing, practicing every single day, doesn’t give up on any pucks. That’s really good.”

Florida got Markström in a trade with the New Jersey over the summer, ushering in the end of Bobrovsky’s storied run in South Florida. The Panthers gave up Evan Rodrigues — who played a huge role in Florida winning Game 7 of the 2024 Cup Final against Edmonton — and Jesper Boqvist in the deal, meaning it wasn't exactly a nominal price.

“Jacob is an established veteran leader in this league who possesses size and a relentless drive to win,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said when the trade happened.

The 6-foot-6 Markström is going into his 17th season. Among goalies who are expected to play this season, only Bobrovsky (806), Connor Hellebuyck (625) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (598) have appeared in more games than Markström (578).

The glaring hole on Markström's resume is clear: He has never made a deep playoff run. He played in the 2020, 2022 and 2025 postseasons, but has yet to be part of a team that got past the second round.

Florida clearly has higher aspirations. That's one of many reasons why Markström wanted to be back.

“I think the expectations are as high as anywhere else," Markström said. “Everyone here has won, and they've won multiple times. They know what it takes to win and to be successful. And just walking into the gym and walking into the locker room, you can feel it. That’s a good thing to have in a locker room around the guys and the team.”

That might not have been the case in his first stint with the Panthers, which ended when he was traded in 2014 to Vancouver for Luongo, the Florida legend who remains with the team as part of the front office.

Markström appeared in 43 games with Florida over those years; the team won only 11 of them. Attendance for Panthers games was near the bottom of the NHL, even with what appeared to be some generous counting procedures. The team wasn't good, and worse, it seemed like a new rumor regarding relocation — Seattle or Quebec City were the purported targets — would pop up every week.

It's all very different now. The Panthers nearly filled their building for a preseason game a few days ago and once the puck drops for real will be one of the hottest tickets in hockey. The team practices in a state-of-the-art palace in downtown Fort Lauderdale, a far cry from the rather pedestrian facility that the Panthers used to call their off-day home. And best of all, the team is good. Maybe great.

“I’ve just been super impressed with what the team and the organization and (owner) Vinnie Viola has done to this franchise," Markström said. "It’s really impressive and playing against this team for the last decade or so, you can see it every year, taking steps to become a better and better team, then getting to three finals in four years and two Stanley Cups. To be here and to be part of something new and a really hungry group. I’m just super excited. It's a privilege and it is an honor to be back.”

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

FILE - Florida Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom (25) blocks a shot by Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin (71) as Panthers' Erik Gudbranson (44) defends in the third period of an NHL hockey game, Oct. 11, 2013, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose on Wall Street Friday as a cooldown in oil prices helped relieve some of the pressure building from the bond market.

The S&P 500 added 0.5% after flipping between modest gains and losses earlier in the day. It's coming off a three-day losing streak marred by big swings caused by rising bond yields, but it nevertheless remains near its all-time high set last month and is on track to finish its first winning week in the last three.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 413 points, or 0.8%, as of 12:42 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.

Stock indexes initially rose after trading began, aided by a drop in oil prices. The most actively traded contract in the market for Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.4% to $96.71 per barrel.

It’s been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil to flow freely again from the Middle East. Prices go down when hopes rise for a possible deal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, and they go up when doubts resurface.

But a report on U.S. consumer sentiment released shortly after trading began undercut that support because it helped push Treasury yields higher. The report from the University of Michigan said U.S. consumers are bracing for inflation of 4.6% in the coming year, up from their forecast of 4% the month before. It also said that overall sentiment among consumers was not as bad as economists expected, even if it was the lowest in four months.

The expectations for high inflation are potentially dangerous for the economy because they could encourage behavior that leads to a vicious cycle that makes the cost of living spiral even higher. Indeed, some consumers told the survey that buying some kinds of products now would help them avoid higher prices in the future. If they rush to make such purchases, it could encourage sellers to raise prices further.

Following the report on consumer sentiment, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 5.18% from late Thursday and is near its highest level since 2007.

High yields slow the economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, while undercutting prices for stocks and other investments. Rising yields worldwide are rattling all kinds of financial markets, and yields are climbing not only because of worries about high inflation but also because of big government debt loads, signs of continued economic strength and other factors.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at just 3.97% before the beginning of the war with Iran.

High yields hit stocks seen as the most expensive in particular. That has pressured stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry that soared in earlier years because of the frenzy around the technology.

Nvidia held relatively steady. It rose 0.1%. A day earlier, its fall of 0.9% was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

On the winning side of Wall Street, Akamai Technologies rose 5.3% after the cloud company announced an $11.6 billion, multiyear agreement with Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot.

Costco Wholesale added 2.4% after the retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Such strong profit reports from U.S. companies have helped the stock market remain resilient despite all the worries about high inflation and oil prices.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following bigger moves in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1%.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

Michael Pistillo works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

John O'Hara works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)