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Florida Panthers Sign Rudolfs Balcers

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After being cut loose by the San Jose Sharks, Rudolfs Balcers has found a new home in Florida. The Panthers have signed the young forward to a one-year contract, with general manager Bill Zito releasing the following statement:

Rudolfs is a hard-working playmaker who competes with pace and skill. His energy and competitiveness will complement our lineup well.

Given the lack of cap space the Panthers are dealing with, they’ve decided to make some calculated gambles on younger players who fell out of favor with their most recent clubs. Balcers joins Colin White as 25-year-olds who were bought out this week and have now found new contracts with Florida.

In 61 games with San Jose last season, the talented Latvian forward registered 11 goals and 23 points, setting career-highs in both marks. Despite his lack of any real success so far, scouts have always believed there was more offense in Balcers, offense he has shown repeatedly at the World Championships and AHL level, where he is routinely a point-per-game kind of player.

With a history of turning projects into players, the Panthers will try again to put Balcers in a position to succeed and capitalize on that offensive talent. He joins a loaded forward group as a versatile piece that will likely move up and down the lineup throughout the year.

There is at least a bit of “last chance” vibes with Balcers, though that may end up being more motivation than anything else.

Alex Lyon, Anthony Bitetto Sign With Florida Panthers

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Florida has landed a third-string netminder to serve behind Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports the team has signed depth goalie Alex Lyon. They’ve also added some depth on the back end, adding Anthony Bitetto to a one-year, two-way contract.

Lyon, 29, is fresh off winning the Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves, where he posted a .923 save percentage in 12 playoff appearances. An undrafted free agent signing out of Yale in 2016, he has been strong in the minor leagues but only appeared 24 times in the NHL.

He may not get any more chances this year but is at least a strong option should one of Bobrovsky or Knight face an injury.

Bitetto meanwhile is in a similar situation, save for the recent Calder Cup win. The 31-year-old defenseman has 197 games under his belt at the NHL level but none of those came in 2021-22. Instead, he split the year between the Hartford Wolf Pack and the San Jose Barracuda, scoring 17 points in 53 games.

If he’s playing regular minutes with the Panthers it is because they are dealing with serious injuries but should represent a stable veteran presence in the AHL.

Florida Panthers Sign Marc, Eric Staal

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The Florida Panthers are bringing in some brotherly love, signing Marc Staal to a one-year, $750K deal and Eric Staal to a professional tryout, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN.

The state of Florida will actually have three Staals on the ice, as younger brother Jared Staal is an associate coach with the Orlando Solar Bears. When Jordan Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes come to town, it can be a family reunion.

For the Panthers, adding Marc Staal on a league-minimum deal will give them a veteran presence to plug in whenever necessary. The 35-year-old defenseman has played over 1,000 regular season games, including 71 this season for the Detroit Red Wings.

While he isn’t the elite shutdown option he once was, the veteran defender is still an NHL-level talent that can handle penalty killing and third-pairing responsibilities. He may not play every night for Florida but when you look at a team that paid a huge price for defensive depth at the deadline, adding him now makes sense.

Eric Staal meanwhile didn’t play in the NHL last season, sitting out and suiting up at the Olympics instead. He was always open to a return but never found a job, suggesting that his career may be over. A PTO will give him a chance but it’s hard to see how the 37-year-old fits into the high-flying style of the Panthers.

Florida Panthers Sign Nick Cousins

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According to TSN’s Bruce Garrioch, the Florida Panthers are closing in on a contract with depth forward Nick Cousins. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports it’s a two-year deal worth $1.1MM per season.

Cousins, 28, has been a bottom-six center for most of his NHL and has provided a similar set of skills to the variety of NHL teams he’s served. Cousins is a bottom-six forward who provides shift-to-shift energy and depth scoring. In 68 games with the Predators Cousins scored nine goals and 22 points, getting those numbers on only 12 minutes of ice time per night. Cousins sometimes was used on the Predators’ power play, but was not a featured option there.

Cousins doesn’t have the skill or separation ability to be an offensive difference-maker at the NHL level. But he has shown the ability to score once in a while taking on a limited role. That’s likely what he’ll be asked to do in Florida, though there’s always the possibility that he gets swept away in the tide that is the Florida Panthers’ offensive machine and has a career year.

Florida Panthers To Sign Colin White

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After getting bought out by the Ottawa Senators, free agent forward Colin White is headed to the Florida Panthers on a one-year, $1.2MM deal per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. White is able to sign this deal with the Panthers thanks to him being recently bought out of his long-term contract by the Ottawa Senators.

This signing is an opportunity for both White and the Panthers. For White, he gets to join the reigning President’s Trophy-winning team, a club that had one of the most lethal attacks in recent NHL history. The Panthers score goals in bunches, and the hope for White is that he can be a part of that. Success in Florida has made other players significant amounts of money, as it has done for Mason Marchment today, so White signs this one-year deal likely with the hope that he can have a productive season and re-enter the market on stronger footing next summer.

For the Panthers, they get someone who was only a few years ago seen as a core piece of the Senators for a cheap price. At $1.2MM, White should help the team’s bottom-six and be able to fill in as a center if there are any injuries, if he’s not occupying the fourth-line center slot already. The Panthers are the team that gives White the best chance of rediscovering the form that saw him post 41 points in 71 games in 2018-19.

At a $1.2MM cost, getting a 25-year-old free agent with the resume that White has is a shrewd addition for Panthers GM Bill Zito, a manager under a ton of pressure to improve after a disappointing playoff exit this spring.

Florida Panthers Sign Nathan Staios

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The Florida Panthers have made a splash in the undrafted free agent market today, signing 21-year-old defenseman Nathan Staios to a three-year entry-level contract.

General manager Bill Zito gave the following statement on Staios’ acquisition:

Nathan is a highly skilled defenseman who possesses an excellent playmaking ability. This past season, he established himself as one of the best defenders in junior hockey and we are excited that he will continue his career within our organization.

Staios, 21, was being pursued by several clubs after his excellent overage season with the Hamilton Bulldogs, where he scored 66 points in 59 games and helped them to the Memorial Cup.

The son of long-time NHLer Steve Staios, this defenseman holds a bit more offensive upside than his dad. He’ll join a Panthers program that will need cheap options in the coming years as their high-end offensive talent continues to increase in cost.

Florida Panthers Sign Eetu Luostarinen, Lucas Carlsson

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The Florida Panthers have announced a new two-year contract for Eetu Luostarinen, avoiding restricted free agency with the young forward. Puck Pedia reports the deal carries a $1.5MM cap hit, paid in full base salary each season. The team also inked defenseman Lucas Carlsson to a one-year, two-way contract to avoid restricted free agency, which CapFriendlyNo contract details were included. has an $800,000 cap hit and $300,000 minor salary with $400,000 guaranteed.

General manager Bill Zito did release a statement on the two players:

Eetu is a selfless, dependable and cerebral player who plays with consistency each and every night. We are excited to have him back in our lineup for the upcoming campaign.

Lucas is an effective two-way defenseman who possesses a high compete level. We are pleased that he will remain a part of our organization as we head into next season.

Luostarinen may not be a household name yet but he was an important piece for the Panthers this season, offering versatility and size to the bottom six. The 23-year-old center scored nine goals and 26 points in 78 games, averaging just over 13 minutes a night while racking up more than 100 hits. Averaging more short-handed ice time than any forward not named Aleksander Barkov or Anton Lundell, his role is integral to the machine that Zito and the Panthers have built, even if it’s hard to see much more offensive production coming in the future.

Selected 42nd overall by the Carolina Hurricanes, Luostarinen was part of the Vincent Trocheck trade in 2020 and quickly showed that he could handle himself at the NHL level. It’s not to say more offense is impossible from the 6’3″ forward, just that his role in Florida is likely to stay limited to defensive minutes for the time being. The team has so many established offensive players ahead of him that his deployment will likely stay heavily skewed to his own end of the rink, tasked with protecting the lead and taking some of the defensive burdens off of Barkov.

A two-year deal will leave Luostarinen as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2024, though by then he will be eligible for arbitration.

Carlsson worked his way into 40 NHL games this season and is Florida’s likely go-to man for their seventh defenseman spot. In his first “full” NHL campaign, Carlsson averaged just 12:43 per game but managed three goals and six points.

NHL Announces 2022-23 Regular Season Schedule

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The news continues to break during what’s been a busy pre-draft week. The NHL has released the full 82-game schedule for the 2022-23 campaign, marking a return to normal dates and length for the first time since 2018-19.

2022-23 will see its curtains open overseas, where the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators will open the season at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czechia on October 7 and 8, 2022. The regular season will begin on the North American side of the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, with a classic doubleheader. The puck will drop at Madison Square Garden for an Eastern Conference Final rematch between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, followed by a Pacific Division showdown in Southern California between the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings.

The Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony will be the following night at home against the Chicago Blackhawks. The season will wrap up on April 13, 2023.

Some key events throughout the season include the 2022 Global Series in Tampere, Finland, where the Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets will play a pair of games on November 4 and 5, 2022. The 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic is slated for January 2, 2023, between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins at Fenway Park, and the 2023 NHL Stadium Series is set for February 18, 2023, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Hurricanes will host the Washington Capitals. All-Star Weekend will be February 3-4, 2023, hosted by the Florida Panthers.

Florida Panthers, Florida Everblades Sign Affiliation Agreement

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A partnership that always seemed to make sense has finally returned, as the Florida Panthers and Florida Everblades of the ECHL have signed a multi-year affiliation agreement. The deal brings the clubs back together for the first time since 2010 and comes on the heels of a Kelly Cup championship from the minor league club.

Brett Peterson, assistant general manager of the Panthers, released a statement:

We are pleased to announce a new affiliation with the Florida Everblades. We want to thank the Swamp Rabbits for two great seasons and look forward to beginning a new partnership just down the road in Estero, Fla. We look forward to the development of our young players in Florida and many opportunities together with this new pipeline plan.

As Peterson references, this will be the end of the Panthers’ agreement with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, who will now have to find a new NHL partner. Perhaps that could be the Nashville Predators, who were previously affiliated with the Everblades before this change.

The ECHL club took home the league championship this season, winning the Kelly Cup for the second time. An exceptionally consistent organization, they have made the postseason in 23 of 24 years, and gone to the finals five different times.

Florida Panthers Sign Aleksi Heponiemi

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The Florida Panthers have inked Aleksi Heponiemi to a one-year, two-way contract extension for the 2022-23 season. CapFriendly reports that the deal will be worth $750K at the NHL level, $100K at the AHL level, and comes with a minor league guarantee of $175K. The young forward was scheduled for restricted free agency but is still not eligible for salary arbitration.

Heponiemi, 23, was the 40th overall selection in 2017 and has had an interesting route to the NHL. The Tampere, Finland native was picked out of the WHL, where he had come over to play for the Swift Current Broncos, and absolutely dominated that league after going back for his draft+1 season. With 118 points in 57 games (and another 30 in 26 postseason matches) he helped the Broncos win the WHL championship, taking home the CHL Sportsman of the Year award in the process.

The following season he returned to Finland to play at the professional level, and had no problem carrying over his offense to Liiga play. In 50 games for Karpat he scored 16 goals and 46 points, while also attending the World Juniors and winning gold. The next year was spent in the AHL with the Springfield Thunderbirds, before COVID restrictions kept the AHL from playing through the early part of 2020-21. That led to a loan to Sweden where he played for MODO, scoring nearly a point-per-game through the first half.

A recall to North America led to his NHL debut but he wouldn’t stay at that level. In fact, this past season he once again was limited to the AHL–this time scoring 39 points in 56 games for the Charlotte Checkers.

Now, it’s time for Heponiemi to try and make the Panthers on a full-time basis. No longer waiver-exempt he will be risked to the rest of the league if they try to send him to the minor leagues, giving him at least a bit of a head start over some other young prospects. That doesn’t guarantee him a spot though, especially on a team that already has plenty of offensive weapons and might prefer more physical players in the bottom-six.

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