Colby Guy
Ever since he arrived in the first trade Bill Zito made as general manager, Patric Hornqvist has become a beloved figure in the Florida Panthers locker room.
After winning the Stanley Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Hornqvist was largely credited with changing the culture in the Florida locker room.
“He has helped out tremendously,” former Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. “His intensity, his competitiveness has rubbed off on a lot of people. It has made our practices much better, much harder.
“There is more compete. He just brings a fire that every day the bench has more energy. He has been through so many things. He’s vocal. He brings that intensity to every practice. And it is contagious.”
Although Hornqvist is a player many around the team adore, but with the Panthers’ cap situation, can Florida afford to keep him?
Part of how Hornqvist changed Florida’s culture was him adjusting to a new role for the sake of winning.
When he arrived in South Florida, he came off of a seven-season stretch of at least 15 goals, including five straight 20-goal seasons.
Once players like Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair broke out, he settled into a fourth-line role with a large emphasis on veteran leadership.
Hornqvist holds an annual cap hit of $5.3 million for one more year — but it’s a year where Florida cannot afford to keep it.
After the buyouts of Keith Yandle and the carryover from the Scott Darling trade/buyout in 2019, the Panthers find themselves with over $6 million in dead cap and just $3 million in space to work with this offseason.
Among those who they want to re-sign are Mason Marchment and Claude Giroux, who is widely reported to be interested in returning to Sunrise.
The $3 million Florida currently has is not enough to get either of those deals done.
No matter how much this team loves having Hornqvist around, $5.3 million is a lot to dish out for a player in his role.
Between all of the other candidates for a salary dump, his makes the most sense.
There are a couple of ways Florida could go about moving his contract.
The first is an outright buyout, which would put the team at the limit of three active buyouts until Darling’s runs out following this upcoming season.
Buying out Hornqvist would save Florida $3.5 million this season and leave them with a $1.76 million cap charge for the next two.
While the savings from the buyout could definitely be used to bring someone like Giroux back, the 2023 offseason is a critical one for the Panthers.
Both MacKenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau are both set to be unrestricted free agents and are due for a hefty payday, so Florida would likely want to limit any dead cap charges.
Hornqvist could also be an option to be acquired by a trade from a team near the cap floor that wants him to be a veteran leader.
He does have a modified no-trade clause in his contract, meaning he has an eight-team list where Florida could not trade him to. Hornqvist, you may recall, waived his complete no-trade to come to Florida in 2020 after speaking with Zito.
This seems like the most likely option depending on which teams Hornqvist has on his no-trade list.
A team like the New Jersey Devils could be looking for someone to help change things around and with the amount of cap space they have, they have to space to do so.
As many around the team have said, Hornqvist is a guy who motivates players to show up to the rink early and put in the work necessary to win a Stanley Cup.
After all, he has done it twice in Pittsburgh.
It just remains to be seen which of those teams are not on the eight-team no trade list.
Whether or not Florida would have to package some of their dwindling futures along with him to get a team to take the contract remains to be seen as well.
There also is an option where the Panthers could keep Hornqvist without keeping his contract.
It’s a slim slot but the Washington Capitals did so a few years ago when it sent Brooks Orpik and his $5.5 million cap hit to the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avs then bought Orpik out — and the Capitals re-signed him for $1 million.
If this arrangement was agreed upon with Hornqvist, as it was with Orpik and Washington, they could pull it off.
Of course, Washington paid a price to do so as it dealt Philipp Grubauer to the Avalanche but received a second-round pick in return.
Concievably, a move like this could cost Florida as much as a second-rounder or a B-level prospect, which Zito has proven that he would be willing to part with.
This is a move that has only been pulled off once so don’t get your hopes up.
Whether it does or not, the sticking point is that there is a slim chance Hornqvist is back in a Panthers uniform next season, at least with the way their cap situation looks right now.
Things can change and Florida could end up striking a deal to shed Bobrovsky’s contract and live with Hornqvist’s $5.3 million before bringing him back on a cheaper deal in 2023.
No matter what happens, his impact will be felt in Florida for a while.
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 begins Thursday night in Montreal; free agency opens July 13.