Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling is one of Florida’s prominent pending unrestricted free agents. The 27-year-old has gone from being a waiver claim in 2021 to a top-three defender and his price tag is set to jump considerably from his current $2.667MM AAV. Keeping him, blueliner Brandon Montour, and forward Sam Reinhart will be difficult to do but Forsling told Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald that he has made it known that he wants to remain with Florida. However, discussions on a new deal have been minimal so far. Forsling has 22 points in 50 games so far this season while averaging over 22 minutes a night, putting him in a position to more than double his current cap hit.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli wonders if the Blue Jackets might look at buying out defenseman Andrew Peeke this summer. Columbus has been shopping a blueliner for most of the season (Peeke and Adam Boqvist have been the players believed to be available) but has yet to find a suitable trade, likely because both blueliners have cap hits at or above $2.6MM. Peeke struggled last season and has been a frequent healthy scratch this year (playing just 20 times), providing a weak return on a $2.75MM price so far. He has two years left on his deal and if Columbus was to buy him out, they’d eat a $917K dead cap charge for the next four seasons.
- Dan Milstein, the agent for Islanders prospect Ruslan Iskhakov, told Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News that contrary to speculation from earlier this week that had him linked to the KHL, the forward has yet to engage in discussions for next season. The 23-year-old is in his second AHL season and has been quite productive, collecting 34 points in 44 games this season after putting up 51 points in his rookie campaign in 2022-23 but is still looking for his first NHL opportunity. Iskhakov is set to become a restricted agent with arbitration eligibility this summer.
having to buy out Peeke is GM incompetence. I think people generally knew CBJ had too many D-men and D-men prospects 2 years ago when they made the curious decision to sign Gudbranson. Then, they traded for Provorov and signed Severson and prospect Jiricek is annoyed because there’s no room for him at the inn. The Columbus GM has had years to sort out his logjam but he just made it worse.
Forsling is way underrated. GM Zito should make him priority #1, especially with the AAV likely coming in much lower than Montour & Reinhart.