George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers have been the headline grabbers on the first day of free agency in the past.
Not this time.
That is not to say what new general manager Bill Zito did on the opening of the NHL’s free agent market was inconsequential — and he most likely is not done.
To be fair, Friday’s opener was not exactly the free agent frenzy we have seen in the past.
These are different times, after all.
“I think we’re all kind of accustomed to not being surprised by anything,” Zito sad. “That’s how we prepared as a staff, we were ready for anything. …
“We were targeting the players we thought could help us, who made sense and we started the day by making calls right away to the players we identified whom we wanted to call.”
The headline-grabbing moves Friday were ones that were not made. Simply put, the biggest name players who are not goaltenders remain free agents.
The market has not set itself yet.
Zito said Friday evening he was “really happy” with the five players added to the roster on Day 1.
The moves made on the opening day of the market included getting rougher on the back-end with the signing of defenseman Radko Gudas.
Florida already added some missing toughness when it acquired Patric Hornqvist in the Mike Matheson trade.
By bringing in Gudas, the Panthers are bringing in a whole lot of heavy — and some dirty as well.
Gudas has been suspended four times by the league for hits to the head while avoiding league discipline other times including in games against the Panthers over the course of his career.
“People know about Radko Gudas,” Zito said. “He brings an element to the game that I think everyone who has ever played against him knows, not unlike Patric Hornqvist, is a guy you hate to play against.
“Generally, that means you want him on your team. He’s a leader, plays the game the right way and is a very, very smart defender.’’
Florida was short on centers and signed two.
The first to sign on was Carter Verhaeghe, a young player who recently won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay whom the Panthers are betting on blossoming now that he’ll get more of a chance to play.
Verhaeghe gives Florida some versatility as he could play center or the wing.
“He can play up-and-down the lineup with some upside,” Zito said. “That was something that we targeted. Our scouts worked very hard and spent a lot of hours looking for younger talent who might have some upside, might be buried, might be behind opportunities in the clubs they were on.
“We’re real excited to see what he can do and give him some opportunity to grow.”
Zito also brought in a old friend in a reclamation deal as Alexander Wennberg signed a one-year pact a day after the Blue Jackets bought out the final three years of a six-year contract.
Wennberg has struggled the past three seasons in Columbus but had three goals and five points in 10 postseason games for the Jackets in August.
“He is a guy who is excited about trying to, I wouldn’t say reinvent himself, but jumpstart himself,” Zito said. “He has some things he can do to elevate his game.”
The Panthers also added some forward depth by signing Vinnie Hinostroza, a 26-year-old who has spent the past two seasons in Arizona but played for Joel Quenneville in Chicago.
Hinostroza signed a bargain one-year deal with the Panthers for $1 million after scoring just five goals with 17 points in 68 games for the Coyotes last season.
The Chicago native who played at Notre Dame had a career-high 16 the season before.
“He has a little upside from a skill perspective,” Zito said.
Florida is also bringing in Ryan Lomberg and giving him his first real shot at NHL playing time.
Lomberg has only played in a handful of NHL games, yet got a two-year, one-way deal from the Panthers meaning he will most likely be counted on in a bottom-six role.
“I think the fans are going to love him,” Zito said. “Hes an energy forward who can fly and is an F1, in-your-face, hard forward with hockey sense. He can play the game and will provide offensive zone presence. He is a very fast, speedy wing who plays with an edge.”
Although Zito said he wasn’t sure whether the Panthers will end up being done, he did say Florida has not shut the door on potentially bringing back some of its own — including Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov, two of the bigger names on the market who, as of Friday night, had not signed anywhere else.
On paper, the Panthers did not bring in a lot of scoring and the potential loss of Dadonov and/or Hoffman (Florida’s two highest scorers the past two season not named Barkov or Huberdeau) will be hard to replace.
“We are still open minded, still working the market and will still continue to try and improve the team every single day in every way that we can,’’ Zito said.
“We’re working. I don’t know if we’re done because I don’t know what the future holds. But we are working, I can tell you that.”
Following the late signing of Hinostroza (one-year, $1 million), puckpedia.com has the Panthers at 17 contracts and around $13 million under the salary cap.
Florida still must use some of that cap money to sign RFA defenseman MacKenzie Weegar as well as add the likes of Grigori Denisenko and Owen Tippett to the roster.
As far as Florida being a player when it comes to some of the big names (asides from Dadonov and Hoffman), Zito laughed when asked about Florida’s reported interest in alpha-free agent Alex Pietrangelo.
“It was a little silly to be honest,” Zito said. “We were speculated to be in on so many things, our salary cap would have needed to be $200 million. I can tell you I texted his agent this afternoon just to see where things were at. And that was about the extent of it.”