With the NHL unrestricted free agent speaking period having opened earlier this morning, many players can begin to talk to other teams to decide what team they might want to play for next season. Two of the biggest free agents on the market, Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin, are expected to participate immediately. The two stars are expected to arrive in Florida en route from Russia and TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that they are expected to both meet with the Florida Panthers on Monday morning.
While the two big-named free agents from Columbus don’t necessarily come as a package, both have been speculated to end up with the Panthers. Florida has $20.48MM in cap space available, which could cover both players’ price tags, although the team also has some needs on defense as well. McKenzie also points out that while it wants to sign both players, Florida’s top priority is signing a goaltender, which means that Bobrovsky is likely the team’s top free-agent candidate.
The team still has two goalies under contract in Roberto Luongo and James Reimer, but neither goaltender played well last year. Luongo, who still has three years remaining at $4.53MM, managed to appear in 43 games despite often dealing with injuries, but finished with a 3.11 GAA and a .899 save percentage. While nothing is official, the rumor is that Luongo wants to come back as the team’s backup. Reimer, the team’s current backup, has two years remaining on his contract at $3.4MM. He struggled as well last season, posting a 3.09 GAA and a .900 save percentage. The team is working on finding a trade partner willing to take Reimer’s contract in hopes of freeing up some extra cap room to make more changes. Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, would give Florida a impact goaltender for the first time in years. The 30-year-old didn’t have his usual strong season, posting a 2.58 GAA and a .913 save percentage, but finally stepped up in the playoffs after years of struggles, picking up six wins and a .925 save percentage.
Panarin has plenty of suitors, but many have felt for more than a year that the 27-year-old scorer was interested in moving to Florida and joining the Panthers. That thought was intensified after the Panthers signed his former coach Joel Quenneville to be their new head coach. Quenneville coached Panarin for his first two years in the league when he played with the Blackhawks and the two had a good relationship. It’s hard to believe that Panarin has only been in the league for four years, but in that time, he’s tallied 116 goals and 320 points. With his young age, he’d be a perfect fit alongside players like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov. Panarin is also being recruited by a number of other teams, including the New York Rangers, who hope to get a shot at signing the free agent.
Dear Gorton and JD,
Don’t let Panarin sign in freakin Florida.
Love, Rangers Fans
The Hawks only FA target should be Panarin. with an impressive stable of young D men and Goaltenders they should give him what he wants. With Crawford’s 6 million coming off the books and possible Expansion Draft and new CBA buyouts making it a possible windfall, they should hand him the keys. They will have money to burn, providing Bowman can keep it in his pants for this season and not wipe it out on overpriced talent. I was kind of surprised they didn’t at least trade Nalimov’s rights away. Might mean they are going to sign him and at least bring him over. With Lankinen, Gravel, Peters, and Basse now there is a good Goalie age range in the system. Well done.
I meant next year for Crawford and the buyouts.
You still have to pay Strome and DeBrincat eventually.
Here’s to hoping Seabrook can be a compliance buyout
According to Sportrac the Hawks have 29 million available for 2020. Subtract whatever you pay Panarin and add whatever else you can get rid of like Saad, Anisimov, or especially Seabrook and I think they’ll be able to squeeze them in. That’s why if Bowman offers anyone other than Breadman more than a 1 year contract this period, he should be fired.
I second that,acarneglia!
Let’s get this done Panthers sign both!!
Why on earth would you sign Bobs and use your lottery pick on Knight?
Ok here is some HockeySense for you
*kenley…. Bobby is a 2 time Vezina winner and a vet who knows how to win. Knight is a Goaltending prospect who isn’t a sure thing by any means. So let’s say that Knight is a sure bet to play in the NHL and if (a big if) he becomes a good goalie…that’s still ideally 3-4+ years away, and more like 5-6 years away to a point of actually thinking about taking over the net. Bobby can sign for a max 7 years.
Now do the math… ;-)
Kenley,
That has to be one of the most foolish comments I’ve ever seen at best they’re saying he’s ready in 3 or 4 years which by then bob would be 34. Hockeysense hit it right on the head.
ACA;
Rangers have sucked for a long time maybe you can get messier out of retirement!
If Messier was to come out of retirement at his age (starting to lose his mind) and played similar to how he picks his “over-rated” leadership award… then the Rangers would really suck for a long time. I would suggest that he becomes coach or GM, so then the Rangers don’t have a chance fast tracking this re-build they’re on. As it looks Gorton is doing a pretty good job at that. As you can see, I’m not a big “Messy” fan. Go Devils Go!!
Is $20M really enough to sign both Panarin and Goalie Bob? Last I heard Bob was looking for Price money, and Bread Man was also looking for $10M+, which is all of the $20M right there. I haven’t checked but I assume that the Panthers, like every team, have a few RFA to sign, and need at least a couple more guys to fill out their roster.
Like… just for the irony?
Yeah, as far as I can see, you are right in the ball. $20 mill for both would probably be a low-ball. It sounds like they are trying to package themselves together (same agent and same meetings) for this particular team. What I can gather is that Florida is more interested in Bobby obviously, but if they can get both for a small discount, then they will definitely inquire. It also comes down to Lou retiring which he’s probably ready for, which would set him into a front office job. Reimer is good as gone and Bobby can play 70+ games for at least a couple more years, which leaves a place for a very cheap backup. That would translate to almost the same salary they are paying now for goaltending. They don’t need Panarin, but it looks good if he can package himself with Bobby for a little cheaper with “hopefully” Quenny helping to convince. I can’t see it, but it’s worth a try right…
Would certainly add an interesting complexion to the Atlantic Division.
**redact** … I’m still on the Kipper dayz when goalies played almost the whole season (even Talbot a couple years ago). Although Bobby is more then capable to play 70-75 games, that isn’t ideal. I could see 65-70 for sure though that has a backup playing sparingly, which means all you need is a cheap filler. That’s probably a dime a dozen for the next few years, until Knight is hopefully ready for an ELC+ at about a million for the last couple years while taking more and more of the workload.
In a perfect world…lol