George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito did not get into too many specifics for what he plans to do next.
Speaking two days after his team was unceremoniously swept out of the playoffs by the Lightning, Zito said there will be plenty of time for that.
“Our gear is still wet,” he said.
Make no doubt, Zito has been thinking about this offseason for a long time.
With a big chunk of salary cap space being eaten up by dead money and long-term decisions nearing on players such as Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar, Zito has a lot of work to do in the months before camp opens in September.
The Panthers also have to make a decision on their coach and whether interim coach Andrew Brunette keeps the job.
It will not be a quiet offseason in Sunrise.
There was no doubt the Panthers were all-in this season, going in big last summer with the acquisitions of Sam Reinhart and Joe Thornton as well as inking a number of players to contract extensions — the biggest, of course, being the eight-year, $80 million deal with captain Sasha Barkov.
And then, of course, there was the NHL Trade Deadline in which Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot were acquired for a mass of draft picks and a couple of prospects including 2017 first-rounder Owen Tippett.
To clear salary cap space for this season, the Panthers bought out the final two years of Keith Yandle’s contract — and the bill for that comes due now.
Yandle’s $5.4 million cap penalty this year will dampen whatever Zito hopes to add to the Panthers this season.
As Zito spoke, the Panthers sit around $4 million under the 2022-23 salary cap with a lot of players still needed to be signed.
There is a lot of work to be done.
”We are not going to make any rash judgements,” Zito said. “It’s pretty raw, still. It was pretty surreal coming here this morning and thinking we’re supposed to be playing. We are going to have a patient and thorough evaluation of everything, figure out what happened. … We will come up with answers. We will fix what we can fix.”
The Panthers go into this offseason with a number of players they would like to keep — but probably cannot.
Chiarot, Giroux and Mason Marchment are all pending free agents.
It would be unlikely if all three returned — and would not be surprising if the Panthers could not afford any of them moving forward.
Chiarot will command the most money on the open market being a 31-year-old defenseman who would be in high demand. Marchment, just breaking into his own as a bonafide NHL forward, is going to get a nice payday somewhere.
For Giroux to stay, he would likely have to accept a lower figure from the Panthers in hoping to finish some unsettled business.
“There are so many personnel decisions” that will be dependent on other moves the team makes, Zito said. “We are going to attack each decision in the same fashion and will do so in due time and with the same process. We will do it carefully.
“We don’t have a lot of room for error with the cap. It’s vital moving forward that we get it right so I’m not sitting in this chair a year from now under the same circumstances.”
Other free agents — such as Noel Acciari, Maxim Mamin, Robert Hagg and Markus Nutivaara — would be a lot more affordable and could fit in under the current constraints.
Florida also has to deal with restricted free agents Eetu Luostarinen and Lucas Carlsson.
As one could guess, that $4 million is not going to go very far.
As it stands right now, it appears a number of younger players from AHL Charlotte — such as Grigori Denisenko, Aleksi Heponiemi and Serron Noel — could find themselves fighting for a roster spot.
They are affordable players and are all starting to come into their own as well.
But it is hard to believe the Panthers will replace the likes of Claude Giroux with a Grigori Denisenko.
The Panthers were close to being the team they wanted to be and do not feel like taking a backward step now.
This is where trades come in.
With such a little amount of money left under the salary cap, one would think Zito will be moving some players out to create more space.
He has done that in the past and will have to get creative this summer.
But who would be on the market?
Social media has been abuzz with thoughts the Panthers should move Sergei Bobrovsky and his $10 million cap hit, but with a full no-movement clause for the next two seasons, he will be a tough trade.
Players such as Patric Hornqvist ($5.3 million for one season), Sam Bennett ($4.4 million for two more) and Radko Gudas ($2.5 million for one) may be much easier to be moved.
Not saying any of them will be, they obviously have great value to the organization, but Zito needs to free up money one way or another.
Florida also has long-term decisions to make when it comes to Huberdeau and Weegar.
Both players are entering the final year of team-friendly contracts and will be due for a big raise.
Now, if Florida was to sign either player to a new contract, that would not kick in until 2023-24 and would have no bearing on this salary cap situation.
If the Panthers and Zito decide they do not want to sign either player to an extension — or the pricetag or term does not match what they are willing to give out — that could be a potential trade piece as well.
The Panthers plan on being a contender next year and for years after that; they do not want to jeopardize what they have built with a frenzied offseason and there is no indication Zito is ready to start selling and rebuild.
But with just a few bucks to spend, he’s going to have to get creative here.
And he knows it.
“We had a tremendous run this season and it was exciting,” he said. “It was nice for the fans, good for the franchise to finish the way we did at the end of the regular season. But I can tell you it was a great disappointment the way we ended in the playoffs. We need to do better and to fix the things that we can.”