George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers were not thought to have been able to be big players at the NHL Trade Deadline, but that was before Matthew Tkachuk got hurt and the team placed him o LTIR.
By going on long-term injured reserve, the Panthers lose the services of Tkachuk — who sustained what is believed to be a groin injury at the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off last month — through the end of the regular season.
What the Panthers gained was $8.7 million of salary cap space.
And they used almost all of it to improve their team — with pinpoint accuracy.
The Panthers just did not go out trading players to get players.
They had a plan.
And then they went out and executed it.
“When you go back to the starting point of management preparing for the trade deadline,” coach Paul Maurice said, “they did an incredible job, as they always do, of recognizing what our needs are.”
The Panthers had a couple of areas they needed to improve, and they started with their defense.
Although Seth Jones was acquired for Spencer Knight and a first-round pick before Tkachuk was placed on LTIR, the trade only left them with $563,000 under the cap — which was not enough to call up backup goalie Chris Driedger.
You have to have a second goaltender, after all.
Tkachuk was placed on LTIR the following day, and Driedger was brought up from AHL Charlotte.
A few days later, the Panthers traded for San Jose goalie Vitek Vanecek, who carried a cap hit of $3.4 million.
With excess money under the cap, the Panthers did not need offer any sweetener to the Sharks to retain any of it — which, they could not do since they are already retaining the maximum three slots.
On Thursday, the Panthers made another move with the Sharks, this time for fourth-line center Nico Sturm ($2 million).
Florida wanted to improve its bottom-6, and a player like Sturm completely fits what the Panthers were looking for.
The Panthers had been missing what Kevin Stenlund gave them last season, and Sturm looks good so far.
“I think the system’s great for me,” Strum said after his debut Saturday. “The way I play is straight-line hockey. That’s the way I’ve played my whole career. Obviously, there’s some differences to the system that we played in San Jose, but I think in general, I fit well into this system here.”
The big splash Florida made at the close to business trade day Friday was for Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand.
The Bruins retained half of his $6.15 million cap hit which allowed the Panthers to have enough money remaining under the cap to bring up Jesse Puljujarvi — or another player from Charlotte as the games tick down.
Puljujarvi was signed to a minor-league deal by the Panthers after he and the Penguins agreed to terminate his contract.
Florida signed him to an NHL contract last week and could bring him up whenever they want.
So, the Panthers used up just about all of the excess salary cap space afforded to them after Tkachuk went down with an injury.
And they got what the Panthers needed.
“Credit Bill Zito and his staff,’’ Maurice said. “We had some needs coming in. We’re not just adding depth or filling holes, we were addressing where we needed to get better. When you look at all the teams fighting for the playoffs, a lot of them got better. I don’t know that anyone has the edge on another.’’
Of course, all of this was done leading into the deadline with expectations that the Panthers would be close to the salary cap ceiling without going over it.
Then, Aaron Ekblad was suspended 20 games by the NHL for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
Because of the suspension, Ekblad’s $7.5 million cap hit comes off — putting the Panthers, basically, right where they were when Tkachuk went on LTIR with $8.5 million worth of cap space.
Only the suspension and cap relief comes after the NHL trade deadline, so, the Panthers really cannot do much with the excess cap space.
They can bring up as many AHL players as they could ever hope to use if they so wanted to.
Florida could also use the excess space to put in waiver claims if they see any promising players out there.
If their claim is awarded, with no roster limits after the trade deadline, the Panthers can put a claimed player on their roster and not worry about cap ramifications.
Like Zito said, if the Panthers think they have a chance to improve their team, they will.
And use any advantage afforded them.
Their moves may not be over just yet.
The Panthers are already going to be way over the salary cap when the playoffs start, so what’s a few more bucks?