George Richards, FHN Publisher
When Bill Zito took over as general manager of the Florida Panthers, one of his goals in making offseason moves was to make his new team a lot tougher.
His first couple moves were made to do just that.
Zito, who was offered the job on Sept. 1, made his first deal as Florida’s GM a big one, sending Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour to Pittsburgh for veteran power forward Patric Hornqvist.
Not only is Hornqvist a two-time Stanley Cup champ, but he is a pain to play against. A beloved teammate in Pittsburgh, Hornqvist was not liked elsewhere.
Teams hate playing against him.
When the free agency market opened, Zito’s first signing was to bring in one of the toughest defensemen around.
Radko Gudas, suspended by the league four times, brings the hammer.
Like Hornqvist, he has become a fan favorite when he’s on your team — and very much disliked by opponents.
Zito was busy in his first few weeks on the job, making a couple of trades before signing five players on the opening day of free agency.
Aside from getting tougher, Zito was also looking for relative bargains, players who may have some real upside upon given the chance to play more — or, in the case of Alexander Wennberg, change their scenery a bit.
The Panthers did not sign any of their pending free agents with Mike Hoffman, Brian Boyle and Erik Haula still on the market.
Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov (not to mention Boyle and Haula) likely could have been brought back and, perhaps, one or more could.
Per Puckpedia.com, the Panthers are about $6 million under the cap.
Right now, we know Dadonov went to Ottawa with a very respectable three-year deal worth an AAV of $5 million.
If Florida wanted Dadonov back, and all signs are he wanted to return, that’s a deal which presumably could have been done.
The Panthers are going to be a different looking team when the next season eventually gets going.
And that is by design.
Trade No. 1: D Mike Matheson and F Colton Sceviour to Pittsburgh FOR F Patric Hornqvist
Grade: A
Analysis: The Penguins feel like they are going to get some real upside by bringing a still young defenseman with plenty of talent. For the Panthers, they figure Matheson just wasn’t going to work out here.
The past two seasons (this one improved over the last but still disappointing) were enough to put Matheson and his long contract on the road out.
Matheson has six years left on his deal, so, getting out from under that when it appears things were not going to work out is a deal by itself.
Florida appears to have thrown in Sceviour — a fourth-line forward with one year left on his contract — after failing to get insurance to cover the final three years of Hornqvist’s contract which averages $5.3 million and makes him the third-highest paid forward on the roster.
Hornqvist, a two-time Cup champ with the Penguins, is a fan favorite in Pittsburgh but he’ll be 34 when the season eventually starts and he has some miles on the odometer.
Zito saw the best of Hornqvist when the Pens were knocking the Blue Jackets out of the playoffs, figures just bringing in a hard-nosed winner (who had 17 goals and 32 points in 52 games last season) at least helps change some of the culture within his team.
Is Hornqvist going to continue being effective with the Panthers for these final few years? That’s the big question.
But he, and what the Panthers unloaded with Matheson’s long contract, make it worth the gamble especially if he gets paired up with Sasha Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau and gives that line another scoring option down in front of the net.
Trade No. 2: D Josh Brown to Ottawa FOR fourth round pick
Grade: B
Analysis: Brown was a very serviceable bottom pairing defenseman but the Panthers, especially with the moves made later, have plenty of options on the backend.
By sending Brown to the Sens where he’ll be reunited with his junior coach D.J. Smith, Brown should get a little more playing time and really show what he’s got. Had he returned, he would likely still be fighting to stay out of the press box as Florida’s No. 7.
Trade No. 3: F Cliff Pu to Columbus FOR D Markus Nutivaara
Grade: A
Analysis: It appeared that Nutivaara needed a change and the Blue Jackets needed to dump some salary.
Zito was quick to send a minor-league forward (Pu is a 22-year-old entering his fourth pro season) back to C-bus to get a puck-moving, defensive minded defenseman who has the ability to play anywhere within the top six.
Nutivaara gives the Panthers added defensive punch and he can move the puck. He should prove to be a nice addition.
Free agent signing No. 1: D Radko Gudas
Grade: C
Analysis: Gudas, no doubt, brings some of the toughness the Panthers are trying to attain but they gave a three-year deal (worth $2.5 million per, so not a very high price) to a defenseman who didn’t have his best season last year with the Washington Capitals.
If Gudas reverts back to the defensive player he was even a season ago, and there is reasonable expectation that will happen under Joel Quenneville and new defensive coach Ulf Samuelsson, this signing could turn into a key acquisition.
Free agent signing No. 2: F Carter Verhaeghe
Grade: A
Analysis: The signing of Gudas jumped off the page not long after the free agency market opened but the signing of Verhaeghe started a trend of Zito looking for quality talent which may have been trapped or a little overlooked at their last stop.
Verhaeghe, a fourth-liner with the Stanley Cup champion Lightning, comes south to the Panthers where he will find more minutes and perhaps a much larger role.
Verhaeghe, who will still be RFA even after his two-year contract runs out, scored 34 goals two seasons ago in the AHL before scoring nine in 52 games with the Lightning last year.
He gets a $1 million AAV deal — which will be a real bargain if he gives the Panthers what they think they will playing an extended role.
Free agent signing No. 3: F Alexander Wennberg
Grade: B
Analysis: This was a signing most saw coming as soon as word came down from Columbus that the Blue Jackets were buying out the final three years of Wennberg’s deal.
Zito was part of the CBJ team which inked a 23-year-old Wennberg to a six-year contract extension in 2017 as the team’s No. 1 center. Wennberg didn’t hold onto his spot with with rookie Pierre-Luc Dubois taking over a few months into the 2017-18 season.
Wennberg went from scoring 13 goals with 59 points in 2016-17 to getting a total of 15 goals and 82 points in the following three seasons as his role was reduced. Wennberg is getting a prove-it deal of one-year for $2.25 million.
If it works out, the Panthers would likely like to keep him.
Wennberg, when on, can play. He gives the Panthers an experienced center (he probably takes over the second line) who can facilitate the puck. If it doesn’t work, well, it didn’t cost the Panthers much to find out.
Free agent signing No. 4: F Ryan Lomberg
Grade: B
Analysis: Zito said fans “are going to love this guy” and Lomberg says he is ready to run through a wall to prove his worth. The Panthers hope giving Lomberg a real chance — he got his first NHL one-way deal, a two-year contract with a $725,000 AAV — will pan out.
Lomberg was a standout in college who had to work his way back up after not getting drafted. Calgary gave him an opportunity but he was limited to 21 AHL games last year due to injury.
Free agent signing No. 5: F Vinnie Hinostroza
Grade: B
Analysis: A former winger under Quenneville in Chicago, Hinostroza is looking (sound familiar?) for a bigger role in Florida after scoring just five goals for Arizona last season. Hinostroza is a talented player who scored a career-high 16 goals for the Coyotes two years ago.
Perhaps finding a home with Coach Q will bring some of that scoring touch back. With a one-year deal worth $1 million, this is a low-risk, high-reward signing. Again, sound familiar?
Free agent signing No. 6: F Scott Wilson
Grade: B
Analysis: The former Sabres forward comes to the Panthers on a two-way deal meaning he could see time in AHL Charlotte if he loses a numbers game with a Florida team deep in bottom-six forwards.
He’s only played in 21 NHL games with Buffalo over the past two seasons so Wilson is another guy hungry to show what he’s got with the Panthers.
RFA signing: D MacKenzie Weegar
Grade: A
Analysis: Weegar is one of the team’s top defensemen and filed for arbitration with the team. For the second time, however, the two sides came to a deal before going before an arbiter.
This is one of those moves which makes sense on both sides: Florida signed Weegar to a three-year deal with an AAV of $3.25 million.
Florida gets a young, up-and-coming d-man who plays on its top pairing for a very team-friendly number. Weegar gets himself a little security (although without a no-trade, he could get snapped up by Seattle next summer if not protected).
Very nice move on both sides.