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Panthers Notes: Defense, Hanifin, Duclair

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On today’s episode of TSN’s Insider Trading Pierre LeBrun said that the Florida Panthers are looking to upgrade their defense as they head into the summer. It’s not a surprise to hear this as their defensive core was badly banged up after the playoffs and the left side of their group leaves a bit to be desired. They will also need to contend with free agent departures and Aaron Ekblad likely missing the start of the season with a shoulder injury.

All these issues have Florida reportedly shopping for defensemen via trade. Florida doesn’t have much in the way of cap space with just over $10MM available, so any trade might need to be dollar for dollar. The other issue they may come up against is their lack of trade capital, the Panthers don’t have a first-round pick until 2026 after dealing three first-rounders last year and this could lead Florida to make an old-fashioned player-for-player hockey trade with a team seeking forward help.

In other Panthers notes:

  • One name that LeBrun brought up when discussing the Panthers search for defense was Calgary Flames rearguard Noah Hanifin. The former fifth overall pick reportedly informed the Flames that he doesn’t plan to sign an extension, meaning that the one year remaining on his current contract is likely to be his last in Calgary. Hanifin had seven goals and 31 assists in 81 games for Calgary last season and has been mentioned in multiple outlets as a possible trade target for the Panthers. The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie wrote a column this week talking about a possible Hanifin to Florida connection, but did also bring up the Panthers lack of tradeable assets as a possible roadblock.
  • LeBrun goes on to talk about one move the Panthers could make to acquire some trade bait and that is moving forward Anthony Duclair. The 27-year-old has one year remaining on his contract at a very affordable $3MM cap hit and is just a year removed from scoring 31 goals. The Panthers may not be able to sign Duclair long-term and might be able to get some assets for him to flip for a defenseman. LeBrun goes on to say that he doesn’t think Florida wants to trade the former third overall pick, but they are fielding a lot of calls and could move him for the right offer. Duclair only dressed in 20 games in the regular season, but he was terrific in the playoffs where he put up four goals and seven assists in 20 games helping the Panthers reach the Stanley Cup finals.

Snapshots: Lyon, Love, Hockeyville

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Sergei Bobrovsky’s magical run for the Florida Panthers throughout most of the playoffs erased a lot of memories of the netminder who got them there in the first place. 30-year-old Alex Lyon, who started the season as the team’s third-string netminder, recorded a 6-2-1 record and .930 save percentage while playing in nine of the team’s final 12 games of the regular season, helping them snag a playoff spot after sitting on the outside looking in for much of the season.

Yesterday, Lyon’s agent, Pete Rutili of Wasserman Hockey, told Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic that his client’s preference is to stay in the Sunshine State, but there have been no talks between the Panthers and their pending unrestricted free agent. Florida expects youngster Spencer Knight back in the fold next season after taking time in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, so Lyon wouldn’t have a likely NHL role if he returns. After seven seasons and more than 200 games of AHL action, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Lyon went elsewhere to find an easier path to more NHL action in 2023-24.

More from the NHL news cycle today:

  • The head coach of the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, Mitch Love, hasn’t completely cut ties with the Flames after being passed over for their head coaching vacancy in favor of his predecessor in the minors, Ryan Huska. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that while Love is still looking elsewhere for jobs on an NHL bench, he’s had discussions with the Flames about joining Huska’s staff as an assistant. Love has won AHL Coach of the Year honors in both of his two campaigns behind the Wranglers (formerly Stockton Heat) bench and guided them to a Pacific Division Final loss against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, who are now just one win away from the Calder Cup.
  • Next year’s Canadian Kraft Hockeyville preseason matchups will honor both the 2022 and 2023 winners of the award, seeing the NHL head to West Lorne, Ontario, on September 27 and Sydney, Nova Scotia, on October 1. Atlantic Division teams will comprise both matchups, with the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs facing off in West Lorne before the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators play in the Sydney showcase.

Latest On Alex DeBrincat

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The trade market will only heat up over the next few weeks, and Ottawa Senators winger Alex DeBrincat is expected to be high on the list of most trade bait boards. Reports late last week suggested Ottawa will want to get a move in place by next week’s draft, as the 25-year-old sniper isn’t willing to sign a long-term extension with the Sens after heading to the Canadian capital via trade at this time last year. Today, we have some more clarity on where DeBrincat could end up by the end of the month: the Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Detroit Red Wings are on his preferred list of teams where he’d sign a long-term extension, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports.

Ottawa acquired DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks just before the first round of last year’s draft, conceding the seventh overall pick (used on Kevin Korchinski), the 39th overall pick (used on Paul Ludwinski), and a third-round pick in 2024. How much of that value Ottawa can recoup in a secondary trade remains to be seen.

Garrioch mentioned last year’s Kevin Fiala trade between the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings as a comparable, with the Kings sending high-end defense prospect Brock Faber and the 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft in return for Fiala’s RFA rights (he then signed a long-term extension). Garrioch argues that Senators general manager Pierre Dorion should be in a position to get a better return, given DeBrincat is a two-time 40-goal scorer at the time of the deal.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli seemed to pour cold water on that today, however, suggesting an offer from the Detroit Red Wings of winger Filip Zadina (whose time to develop into a full-time NHLer is quickly running out) and futures as a likely return in terms of value for DeBrincat. What does seem clear is that Ottawa likely won’t be receiving a significant roster player in this deal – nor will they be getting the value of picks they gave up for DeBrincat in the first place.

If Ottawa is able to get a prospect closer to Faber’s caliber in return for DeBrincat, though, they should be aiming for a winger who could replace DeBrincat’s spot long-term. The team’s gamble on Tyler Boucher at 10th overall in 2021 doesn’t look like it will pay off, and the team is quickly running out of forward prospects with top-six ceilings with Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig graduating to full-time NHL roles. That could be someone like Mavrik Bourque from Dallas, Fedor Svechkov from Nashville, Mackie Samoskevich from Florida, or Brendan Brisson from Vegas.

Expecting a first-round pick along with Brisson from Vegas may be too much to ask, but the team is slated to pick with the last selection of the first round after winning the Stanley Cup, so it doesn’t quite hold as much value. Dallas and Florida do not have their first-round picks in this year’s draft, while Detroit holds the ninth overall selection, and Nashville holds the 15th and 24th overall picks.

Panthers Likely To Try To Get Early Extensions Done For Montour And Forsling

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While teams will be busy on July 1st trying to add free agents, some will also be trying to lock up their own players to early extensions.  In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that the Panthers will be one trying to do the latter when it comes to defensemen Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling, believing they’ll take a run at trying to lock both of them up early.  Montour had a breakout campaign this past season, picking up 73 points in 80 games.  His previous career-best in points came in 2021-22 when he had 37.  As for Forsling, he also set new benchmarks offensively across the board, picking up 41 points in 82 games while logging over 23 minutes a night.  The two players will make just under $6.2MM combined next season; it might cost more than twice that much to keep them around after that.

Aaron Ekblad Will Have Shoulder Surgery

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For the second straight day, the Florida Panthers announced a member of their defense corps will undergo shoulder surgery. Aaron Ekblad will have a procedure done after sustaining two separate shoulder dislocations during the team’s playoff run, he told reporters including Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press today.

Ekblad’s recovery time will stretch into next season’s training camp. It’s unclear whether he’ll be ready for the start of the 2023-24 regular season.

One of his shoulder dislocations occurred during the Eastern Conference Final, Ekblad said. He didn’t register a point at even strength in the team’s four-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes and averaged 21 minutes per game – not including Game 1’s four-overtime win.

As head coach Paul Maurice said yesterday, Ekblad broke his foot during Game 2 of the team’s first-round win against the Boston Bruins. Ekblad said today he didn’t find out about the injury until the downtime between the second and third rounds.

That second-round series on a broken foot against the Toronto Maple Leafs was Ekblad’s best of the postseason. The 27-year-old defender clicked at a point per game against Toronto after failing to get on the scoresheet in six games against the Bruins.

Maurice added more clarity to Florida’s injury report today, too, saying forward Eetu Luostarinen’s absence in the Stanley Cup Final was due to a broken tibia sustained in the series-clinching Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final. Unlike Ekblad and Brandon Montour, Luostarinen will not require off-season surgery.

Luostarinen skated multiple times during Panthers practices after the injury and attempted to return. The 2017 second-round pick of the Hurricanes had a breakout season for Florida in 2022-23, averaging nearly 16 minutes per game in the regular season and scoring 17 goals and 43 points while playing in all 82 games. He added five points in 16 playoff games while seeing an uptick in ice time.

Brandon Montour To Get Shoulder Surgery

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Much like the end of any Stanley Cup playoffs, both the Eastern and Western Conference finalists are now updating the public on the laundry list of injuries that affected their players throughout. As news already broke about both Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers dealing with severe injuries, Brandon Montour will now join that list.

Kevin Weekes of ESPN reports that Montour is dealing with a torn labrum, and will require surgery that will keep him out for at least three months. With a reasonable timeline pointing towards a return in September, Montour should be ready to go for the start of training camp.

It is bad news any time a player gets dealt a debilitating injury such as a torn labrum, but the fact that Montour should not miss the start of next season is a positive for Florida, to say the least. This past season, Montour took his game to a different level, becoming one of, if not the best overall defenseman on the Panthers.

In 80 games played this year, Montour scored an impressive 16 goals and 57 assists, all while averaging just over 24 minutes a night. Approaching the final year of his three-year, $10.5MM contract, Montour has become quite the defenseman to build around in Florida, considering they only acquired him for a third-round pick in 2021 from the Buffalo Sabres.

In this year’s playoffs, Montour continued where he left off from the regular season, scoring five goals in seven games against the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. However, his scoring seemed to dry up against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes, for unknown reasons at the time.

Obviously, Florida ended up winning both series, but Montour did have a 10-game span where he was kept completely off the scoreboard. Now with injuries finally being released, the torn labrum was likely the reasoning behind much of Montour’s lack of offensive prowess throughout that span of games.

Free Agent Focus: Florida Panthers

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Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Florida Panthers.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Colin White – After a myriad of injuries plaguing his tenure with the Ottawa Senators, White, a former 21st overall selection of the Senators back in 2015, was not issued a qualifying offer by the team last summer. Towards mid-July, White signed on with the Panthers, inking a one-year, $1.2MM contract for the 2022-23 season.

Unfortunately, once again, White seems to be a strong candidate for a non-tender this offseason. A healthy scratch for several games, White accrued 68 games played this year, only scoring eight goals and seven assists. Failing to receive any additional time with special teams, the Panthers only give White a little under 10 minutes of ice time per night.

In White’s defense, he was dressed for 21 games during Florida’s recent run to the Stanley Cup Finals, helping the team out with two assists in the process. Using White every game in an impressive run may indicate that the Panthers do have intentions of keeping the forward around, however; most signs point to White and Florida heading in different directions this offseason.

Other RFAs: F Givani Smith, F Grigori Denisenko, F Aleksi Heponiemi, F Logan Hutsko, F Serron Noel, D Max Gildon, D John Ludvig

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Radko Gudas – To keep it plain, every team in the NHL knows what kind of player they’re getting in Gudas. An old-school stay-at-home defenseman, willing to sacrifice seemingly every part of his body for the betterment of his team. This year, Gudas kept to his ways, blocking 124 shots, and also throwing a whopping 312 hits in 72 games played.

During the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final, it was much of the same, as Gudas threw 91 hits in 21 playoff games for Florida. On the offensive side of his game, Gudas was able to produce a respectable two goals and 15 assists throughout the year.

As much value as Gudas may provide to every team across the league, it would be incredibly surprising if he was not still with the Panthers next season. Throughout the playoffs, it was clear that Gudas was a focal point in the Florida locker room, and had the respect of his teammates and coaching staff.

D Marc Staal  – Signed last offseason to a one-year, $750K contract, the Panthers certainly got a positive return on investment with Staal this season. Playing in all 82 games, Staal scored three goals and 12 assists, averaging just over 18 minutes of ice time per night.

Similar to Gudas, but not to the same degree, Staal was stellar on the defensive side of the puck, blocking 122 shots and garnering 14 takeaways. Not only were the topical defensive statistics in his favor, but Staal also finished this season with a 3.1 Defensive Point Shares. He should have plenty of suitors as a stable sixth or seventh defenseman, especially if he is once again only seeking a minimum salary for next season.

G Alex Lyon – Although regular starting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky backed the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final, Lyon is one of the primary reasons that Florida made it to the playoffs in the first place. After taking over the crease in late March, Lyon finished his last nine games with a 6-2-1 record, posting an incredible .930 SV%.

The playoffs were not as impressive for Lyon, as his only starts came in the Panthers’ first-round matchup against the President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins. In those three starts, Lyon held a record of 1-2-0, only accruing a .902 SV% before finally ceding the net to Bobrovsky.

After his playoff performance, Florida will almost certainly be starting with Bobrovsky in net as the 2023-24 season gets underway, but Lyon may still have a spot in this lineup. As Spencer Knight remains in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, the Panthers may like to keep Lyon as an insurance option.

Other UFAs: F Eric Staal, D Lucas Carlsson, D Casey Fitzgerald, G Evan Fitzpatrick, F Patric Hornqvist, F Henry Bowlby, F Connor Bunnaman, F Gerald Mayhew, D Anthony Bitetto, G Jean-Francois Berube

Projected Cap Space

As the most recent Eastern Conference Champions, the Panthers’ cap situation isn’t as concerning as some might expect. With Hornqvist’s $5.3MM salary coming off the books, Florida will have around $10.3MM to spend this offseason.

The Panthers do have a high quantity of both UFA’s and RFA’s this summer, but the quality of the players should prohibit Florida from losing too much cap space if they do plan to retain a majority of them.

Already a team built to contend for the Stanley Cup, Florida could use much of its cap space to find players that are larger and more physically imposing, as this is what held them back during their first trip to the Cup Final since 1996. If they do plan to run back a similar team for the 2023-24 season, the Panthers will need to work out extensions for both forward Sam Reinhart and defenseman, Brandon Montour.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Theodor Lennstrom Linked To Florida Panthers

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Undrafted free agent defenseman Theodor Lennstrom could land his second NHL contract this offseason in the form of a one-way deal with the Florida Panthers, Swedish outlet Hockey Sverige reports.

Lennstrom, 28, signed with the Edmonton Oilers for the 2020-21 campaign, but COVID limited him to just 23 combined regular-season and playoff games in the minors with the Bakersfield Condors, recording a combined two goals and 10 points. Since then, Lennstrom has posted high-end offensive numbers in the Swedish Hockey League and signed a two-year contract for 2023-24 and 2024-25 with Swiss side Geneve-Servette HC.

Now, it seems that deal could be terminated as an NHL opportunity has presented itself for Lennstrom. The Panthers, who are in desperate need of quality depth defensemen who can contribute more offensively than their current options like Marc Staal and Josh Mahura, present a solid fit for the European veteran.

Lennstrom scored 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points in 45 regular-season SHL games with Farjestad BK during the past two seasons. His 14 points in 19 games during the 2022 SHL playoffs guided Farjestad to a league championship.

Size isn’t a large weakness for Lennstrom, as Elite Prospects lists him at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. Where he excels is his speed game – he’s a quick and agile skater who can gain the zone quickly. Room for improvement in his positional play in his own zone, though, has kept him out of the NHL until this point.

If it is a one-way deal, as the report suggests, Florida likely envisions Lennstrom as a seventh defenseman and would bank on him making the team out of camp. The Panthers don’t have any left-shot defenders like Lennstrom at the minor league level ready to step in next season, although University of Denver grad Michael Benning could make a run for a spot on the right side.

Lennstrom suited up for Sweden at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, posting a -3 rating in five games without getting on the scoresheet.

Florida Panthers Issue Injury Updates On Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad

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Florida Panthers stars Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad both played through significant injuries during the team’s playoff run, head coach Paul Maurice said after their season-ending 9-3 loss in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final last night.

It was obvious Tkachuk had sustained an injury in Game 3 after taking a hard open-ice hit from Vegas Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar during the first period, which Maurice said was a broken sternum. Tkachuk still managed to log 19 shifts, 16:40 of ice time, and 14 penalty minutes in Game 4.

Ekblad, on the other hand, had a much longer list of ailments that will need attention over the offseason. Per Maurice, the 27-year-old defender sustained a broken foot during the team’s first-round victory over the Boston Bruins and later suffered two separate shoulder dislocations and a torn oblique muscle.

Both Ekblad and Tkachuk missed just one game during the playoffs, of which the Panthers lost both. Ekblad missed Game 4 against Boston with what was at the time termed an undisclosed injury, although it seems likely the broken foot kept him out of action. Tkachuk couldn’t go for last night’s Game 5, with Maurice having this to say on their decision-making process:

[Tkachuk] didn’t dress himself for the game. Somebody helped him get his gear on, somebody tied his skates, somebody put his sweater on. But the next day when he came in, he was in significant pain. So it wasn’t really a question whether he’d be able to play [Game 5] or not. The idea would be to let it calm and we might be able to get him to get him to Game 7.

Maurice also said some Panthers players wouldn’t be healthy for the start of next season, although he didn’t name specifics. It’s a disappointing end to the season for Florida, but the immediate concern now lies with the long-term health of Tkachuk and Ekblad.

Tkachuk’s recovery from an injury he only played through for a game and a half should be rather straightforward. However, the Panthers now have to hope Ekblad’s lengthy injury history isn’t further exacerbated by any longer-term recovery complications from his foot or his oblique tear.

Matthew Tkachuk To Miss Game Five Of Stanley Cup Final

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06/13/23: Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Tkachuk is out for tonight’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that Tkachuk is dealing with a “serious upper-body injury,” meaning if the Panthers manage to extend the Stanley Cup Final to a sixth game, it’s possible Tkachuk misses that contest as well.

06/11/23: After a Game 4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Florida Panthers are regrouping and looking for answers as they try to be the first team to win a Stanley Cup Final after being down 3-1 since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs. It appears the injury bug is finally taking a toll, as both Matthew Tkachuk and Anthony Duclair were clearly playing banged up in last night’s contest.

Head coach Paul Maurice provided no official update on Tkachuk and Duclair during media availability this morning, The Athletic’s Michael Russo said. However, he mentioned that both players would undergo rehabilitation and evaluation today while the rest of the team will travel back to Vegas.

It’s not a great sign – especially for Tkachuk, who was kept off the ice for an extended period last night after taking an open-ice hit from Golden Knights winger Keegan Kolesar in Game 3. It limited his ice time to just 16:40 in Game 4 despite the Panthers not holding a lead the entire game, his lowest of the Final aside from Game 2 when he received a 10-minute misconduct penalty during play.

Both players have multiple points in the Final but were held off the scoresheet in Game 4. Duclair did not come out for the start of the third period in Game 4 with an undisclosed injury but would later return.

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