Colby Guy
The Florida Panthers took a huge gamble this past season season when they traded an unprotected 2023 first-round draft pick for Ben Chiarot.
The Panthers were all-in as they chased the Stanley Cup.
And they lost.
Now, the Panthers are sitting with just under $1 million in cap space with both Chiarot and Claude Giroux set to hit the open market as unrestricted free agents on Wednesday.
While Florida is believed to be actively trying to trade a contract or two to clear cap space in order to bring some of their free agents back, the focus seems to be on Giroux and breakout star Mason Marchment.
Chiarot does not appear to be as big a priority.
If the Panthers are able to clear enough cap space it could be concievable that he does return but it does not look likely.
At the end of the day, Florida gave up Ty Smilanic, a 2024 fourth-round pick and their 2023 first-round pick for 30 games of Chiarot.
Was it worth it?
On the surface, yes.
If there was a year the Panthers should have gone all-in, it was this one.
Florida had the pressure of Keith Yandle’s dead cap hit ballooning up to $5.3 million coming this season with both Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar due new contracts next year.
It was the last year they would be afforded the luxury of being able to add as much as they did at the deadline.
General manager Bill Zito put all his chips at the center of the table. As he should have.
Now, the mortgage is due and the Panthers have empty pockets.
When addressing what the team needed at the deadline, Chiarot fit what the Panthers needed at the time.
Florida’s defense had a whole lot of offensive guys who jumped out on the forecheck and played more of a finesse game rather than a physical game.
Chairot played a two-way style where he provided both puck-moving ability and a physical game to go along with it.
Coupled with his experience in deep playoff runs to both the Western Conference final with Winnipeg in 2018 and the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal in 2021, Zito felt he was the perfect fit.
”When we looked at areas we thought we could help our team in, we thought this particular player checked a lot of boxes for us,” Zito told Florida Hockey Now back in March.
“This is a guy who is a size-strength defenseman, is a left shot, in good shape. He has leadership qualities, has a physical element to his game. He is a guy who had that experience of going deep with Montreal. It wasn’t as simple as looking for a ‘type’ of player; it is who is the person.
“We did extensive research on his character, who he is as a person. His competitiveness, how he will fit with our team. It’s as much the indivual as it is what our team needs.”
For what its worth, that was what Chiarot brought when he arrived in South Florida.
He filled a key void with Aaron Ekblad out of the lineup with a lower-body injury sustained just days after the trade for Chiarot was made.
While Chiarot thought he would be playing with Ekblad upon arrival, Ekblad went down with a knee injury while he was dealing with work visa issues and had to adjust to the Panthers without his expected defense partner.
They would have to get acclimated on the fly when Ekblad eventually returned for Game 1 of the playoffs.
After putting up eight points in 20 regular season games as a Panther, Chiarot did not take too long to get used to playing with Ekblad.
Chiarot made several key defensive plays during Florida’s first-round series win against the Washington Capitals to help the team to advance to the second round for the first time since 1996.
He was also feeling a lot more comfortable playing with Ekblad.
“He is a smart player, he has very good hands and he is easy to play with,” Chiarot said. “We’re similar in the fact that we like to be in a more defensive position and he uses his hands on the blue line to make plays and create offense. I’m enjoying playing with him.”
When the Panthers took on the Capitals in the second round, their luck ran out.
The entire team flatlined, scoring just three goals the whole series in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Chiarot was not high up on the list of players to blame, as it was more of a general unpreparedness from the offensive group and the power play rather than anything that could be pinned on him.
Still, the Panthers gave up a lot of assets for both him and Giroux.
And they lost.
With Chiarot likely leaving South Florida, the Panthers will certainly feel the effects of missing out on what they gave up.
Their 2023 and 2024 first-round picks both being gone hinders Florida’s ability to make a big deadline trade in the future.
Losing Smilanic in this deal is also an added blow.
The 2020 third-round pick looked like a bonafide goal scorer at the collegiate level with Quinnipiac with an added element of a solid two-way game.
He played with physicality at 6-foot-1, 174 pounds and had very good hockey IQ for someone his age.
The Panthers could have scored a valuable roster player in Smilanic down the line at a cheap price, which is improtant for a team in the midst of a cap crunch.
He now figures to be part of the future plans of a division rival.
The door is not completely closed on Chiarot, however.
If the Panthers can clear enough cap space, he could return to play under a coach he found a large chunk of his success with in Winnipeg.
He and new Florida coach Paul Maurice spent six seasons together with the Jets, including their run to the Conference final.
Maurice saw Chiarot develop into a reliable defenseman on a playoff team and there could be interest in a reunion.
The Panthers just do not have enough cap space to make it happen.
Florida Panthers Roll Call is a recurring feature at Florida Hockey Now leading into the start of trade and free-agent season.
The NHL Draft was held Thursday and Friday in Montreal; free agency opens Wednesday.