George Richards, FHN Publisher
In one month, on October 9, free agency comes back to the NHL and it is still unclear whether how much of a player the Florida Panthers will be when the market opens.
Last summer, it was understood the Panthers were going to jump into free agency with both feet.
The team was hoping to land the two biggest fish in goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and winger Artemi Panarin.
When Panarin made it clear he was headed to the big city and would sign with the Rangers, the Panthers turned their attention toward adding additional pieces.
While Bobrovsky’s seven-year, $70-million contract rightfully stole much of the spotlight, the Panthers ended up adding almost $25 million in salary for the next season on July 1.
We do not expect that kind of spending this time around.
Florida is not expected to pursue the top two free agents this time around as St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and Arizona winger Taylor Hall will be out of their price range.
General manager Bill Zito has just completed his first week in his new job and has offered some hints in what he would like to do.
The Panthers, as we know, need to improve their center depth. Zito has said as much.
Right now, Florida has a bonafide No. 1 in Sasha Barkov and a top bottom-six pivot in Noel Acciari but holes elsewhere.
Florida has two centers who are free agents in Erik Haula and Brian Boyle and could, over the next month, work out a deal to bring back one or both.
Haula made $2.5 million last season and only scored one goal with Florida after being acquired in the Vincent Trocheck deal with Carolina.
The Panthers also have some younger internal options with Aleksi Saarela, Lucas Wallmark and Henrik Borgstrom likely to find playing time barring any draft time trades.
There are not many top-end centers who will enter the market Oct. 9; Haula may be one of the best options out there and the lack of top players at the position could drive his price up.
Centers who are free agents and could be financial fits for the Panthers include Sam Gagner, Mikael Granlund and Carl Soderberg. A short-term deal with Haula doesn’t look too bad if something could be worked out.
Florida also has two of its top scorers over the past two seasons set to hit the market.
Mike Hoffman, who has led Florida in goals in both of his seasons here since coming over in a trade with San Jose, is one of the top forwards available and will likely price himself out of South Florida.
If Hoffman finds teams only offering short-term deals, perhaps they turn back to Florida.
Coach Joel Quenneville is a big fan of Hoffman and his play at the end of the regular season and postseason showed his worth to the Panthers.
“Hoff is a unique player with lot of ability and some tremendous assets. He can shoot it as good as anyone in the league,” Quenneville said before Florida’s Game 4 loss to the Islanders.
“I think he has some good play recognition offensively and defensively, has the commitment to play equally as hard on both sides of the puck. That’s something he can work on because when that commitment is there, he’s a complete player and the complete package.
“He’s one heck of a hockey player. He does a lot of good things for us. He has speed, wants the puck, wants to score, wants to make plays. I think how he has progressed defensively really adds to his offensive game.”
Evgenii Dadonov just completed his third season with the Panthers after coming back from the KHL and is definitely an option to return.
Had Dadonov entered the market last summer, he likely would have ended up with a real nice deal — perhaps from the Panthers.
With a flat cap and a soft finish to his season, Dadonov may find a smaller market. He likes living in Miami, wants to return. We’ll see.
Boyle gives them options within the bottom six.
Defensively, without making some trades, the Panthers probably will not be a player on the free agent market.
When counting Mark Pysyk’s salary (also a free agent), the Panthers spent more on defensemen than any other team in the league last season.
Florida could look to add some lower-priced depth pieces but without making some bigger changes, that’s all it can really hope for right now.
The Panthers are obviously set at goalie with Bobrovsky, Chris Driedger and Sam Montembeault returning as the team’s top three netminders.
With one year left on his contract and coming off a breakthrough season, Driedger could be a player Florida is contacted about and may be able to acquire some other needs by trading.
This free agency class is packed with experienced goaltending so it is not thought the Panthers are or would shop Driedger.
But at his price point with the season Driedger had (he did have a smaller sample size playing in 12 games), there could be some interest from other teams.
The Panthers have some things they want to do. Trades may just be how they accomplish some of them.
Will the Panthers be a player when it comes to free agency in 2020? They may just be better off trying to keep some of their own.