George Richards, FHN Publisher
Rare is the NHL team that completely remakes its roster and not sink to the bottom of the standings. Or does so because they are at the bottom. Then there is the Florida Panthers.
When you compare how the Panthers lined up in the Toronto postseason summer bubble in 2020 to how things look right now, well, the two teams are unrecognizable.
Sure, Sasha Barkov is here.
So is Aaron Ekblad.
And Sergei Bobrovsky.
Who else?
Would you believe no one — save for Eetu Luostarinen, who did not play in the 2020 bubble?
After Friday night’s blockbuster deal which saw franchise stalwarts Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar go to Calgary for Matthew Tkachuk, general manager Bill Zito appears to have completed his scorched earth campaign on the Florida Panthers roster.
Tkachuk, by the way, will be formally introduced by the Panthers at a noon press conference Monday in Sunrise.
Not only have the Panthers avoided plunging to the depths of the Atlantic (division), but they have enjoyed two of the best regular seasons in franchise history.
Playoff success has been limited to one series win against the Capitals. Which is why Zito keeps on rolling.
Yes, the Panthers are looking to accomplish more. Much more.
Zito’s first move continues to remain one of his best.
Just weeks after being introduced as the team’s 11th general manager in franchise history, he pulled off a dozy of a trade: Trading Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Patric Hornqvist.
Not only did the Panthers get out from under the final six years of Matheson’s deal (at $4.75 million per) after he was scratched against the Islanders, but Zito got the Penguins to take Sceviour and his $1.2 million as well after not being able to get Hornqvist’s final three years insured.
Hornqvist, of course, has turned out to be one of the biggest acquisitions of Zito’s tenure as he has been credited with helping turn the culture of the Panthers around.
There would be more moves to come — many more, as a matter of fact.
Some players were allowed to leave as free agents (Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov, Mark Pysyk) or simply were not offered qualifying offers essentially letting them move on.
Some promising players were traded — Riley Stillman comes to mind — as the cost of clearing up salary cap space as was the case when it came to Brett Connolly.
Frank Vatrano, a pending free agent in 2022, was also traded away to clear up space at this year’s deadline.
Some players were moved in order to bring in others such as Owen Tippett as part of the Claude Giroux deal.
Regardless of how players were moved around, few teams have been able to survive this kind of roster turnover and not only keep things as they were — but get better.
Florida was an OK team in 2019-20, but a horrid February slump led Dale Tallon to make some moves of his own such as trading Vincent Trocheck to Carolina as well as send Denis Malgin to Toronto for Mason Marchment (who was not technically on the 2020 postseason roster).
Zito started methodically working at the bones of the roster upon coming to South Florida, living in a hotel room for weeks and using that as a makeshift office due to the Covid restrictions of working out of the arena or training facility in Coral Springs.
Free agents were signed that first offseason, with Radko Gudas being the biggest name brought in. Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony Duclair, Alex Wennberg, and Ryan Lomberg worked out pretty well.
Florida also did pretty well on the waiver wire, claiming defenseman Gus Forsling from Carolina — and he has turned into a tremendous find and will get a bigger role now that Weegar has been traded.
“When we came here, there were some pretty good players here,’’ Zito said near the end of the 2021 season as the playoffs approached.
“Realistically, it’s not crazy to think we would play pretty well with good players and a really good coach. You would bristle a little bit in the preseason when a lot of people — the so-called experts — counted us out.
“People didn’t have a lot of time for the Panthers. But I thought we could have a successful season because we had quality people here. I don’t think the people in our room are surprised at all with what has happened. They have done their jobs. People didn’t give them a lot of respect. I am really proud of these guys.”
In 2021, Zito was not very active in free agency because much of the work was done beforehand. Not only did Florida lock up a number of players with extensions, but Florida acquired Sam Reinhart in a deal with Buffalo at the draft.
The Reinhart deal cost Florida its 2022 first-round pick and due to trades for Ben Chiarot, Giroux and now Tkachuk, the Panthers will not have a first-round selection until 2026.
That will hurt Florida’s prospect pool, but they are happy with the players they currently have.
And, with the team currently over the salary cap, Zito is not done shuffling things around.
It should be interesting to see what comes next.
So far, things have not been boring.
2020 Florida Panthers Playoff Lineup, Game 4 vs. Islanders
Forwards
11 Jonathan Huberdeau (2022 trade, Calgary) — 16 Sasha Barkov — 55 Noel Acciari (2022 free agent, St. Louis)
68 Mike Hoffman (2020 free agent, St. Louis) — 56 Erik Haula (2020 free agent, Nashville) — 63 Evgenii Dadonov (2020 free agent, Ottawa)
14 Dominic Toninato (2020 not qualified, Winnipeg) — 71 Lucas Wallmark (2020/21 free agent) — 10 Brett Connolly (2021 trade, Chicago)
73 Dryden Hunt (2020 not qualified, Arizona) — 9 Brian Boyle (2020 free agent) — 13 Mark Pysyk (2020 free agent, Dallas)
*77 Frank Vatrano (2022 trade, Rangers)
*7 Colton Sceviour (2020 trade, Pittsburgh)
*27 Eetu Luostarinen
*74 Owen Tippett (2022 trade, Philadelphia)
*28 Aleksi Saarrela (2020 RFA)
Defensemen
52 MacKenzie Weegar (2022 trade, Calgary) — 5 Aaron Ekblad
61 Riley Stillman (2021 trade, Chicago) — 6 Anton Stralman (2021 trade, Arizona)
2 Josh Brown (2020 trade, Ottawa) — 3 Keith Yandle (2021 buyout)
*19 Mike Matheson (2020 trade, Pittsburgh)
*25 Brady Keeper (2021 free agent, Vancouver)
*22 Chase Priskie (2022 free agent, Buffalo)
Goalies
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
60 Chris Driedger (2021 free agent/expansion draft, Seattle)
*30 Philippe Desrosiers (2021 free agent, Winnipeg)
*33 Sam Montembeault (2021 waivers, Montreal)
(*) — On 2020 postseason roster, did not play Game 4