The Florida Panthers introduced on Friday that famous person heart Aleksander Barkov is going to miss seven to nine months after struggling ACL and MCL accidents in observe on Thursday. Together with the harm to star winger Matthew Tkachuk, it leaves some main holes within the lineup of a staff that’s attempting to win a 3rd consecutive Stanley Cup (and attain a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Last).
One of the best-case state of affairs for Barkov is a possible return in some unspecified time in the future within the playoffs. The worst-case state of affairs is that they see him subsequent season.
Although the depth of the roster remains to be robust, these are two troublesome gamers to exchange internally. Given the salary-cap flexibility they may have following the accidents, it does create some potential commerce choices for the Panthers.
So let’s take a look at some potential commerce targets they may discover within the coming weeks and months to assist fill the void.
The boring choice: No commerce and hope Barkov can return for playoffs
There is a massive change to the NHL’s CBA this season that’s going to require groups to be salary-cap-compliant for the playoffs. In recent times, the Panthers may have used this as a possibility to shelve Barkov for the season, make a giant commerce after which convey a doubtlessly wholesome Barkov again for the playoffs when the cap goes away. (Vegas and Tampa Bay had been nice at this.)
That’s not an choice this season, so if the Panthers have any hope for Barkov to be again for the playoffs, they could not be capable of make that sort of massive splash commerce. They nonetheless have roster that may get within the postseason, so the boring choice is to only keep the course, hope Barkov can return in April or Could and go away themselves the cap flexibility to take action.
The smart choice: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, New York Islanders
The Islanders are sort of in a middle-ground right here the place the roster will not be fairly adequate to contend, they usually have a brand new normal supervisor who has made some massive strikes with a concentrate on the long run. Pageau is within the ultimate 12 months of his contract and may very well be an intriguing commerce chip for them given his defensive play and cheap salary-cap quantity ($5 million). He’s additionally a pending free agent after this season.
With Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart having the pliability to play heart and Anton Lundell being a rising star, the Panthers may simply get away with them because the facilities on their prime two strains and search for extra of a depth choice. Pageau can be a powerful match with out breaking the financial institution financially or when it comes to commerce capital.
The “it could make a variety of sense” choice: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
A 12 months or two in the past, this is able to have appeared like a non-starter, however with the Penguins clearly in a rebuild and Malkin already floating the possibility of playing for another team (and particularly referencing Brad Marchand going to the Panthers), there’s going to be some smoke right here. Or at the very least some hypothesis. Malkin will not be the participant he was at his peak, however he nonetheless has some juice to his recreation and would get an opportunity to play with some respectable linemates (one thing that has been a wrestle for him with the state of Pittsburgh’s roster the previous two years).
If they may persuade him to waive his no-movement clause to make a Marchand-like run in Florida, it could make sense. Particularly with Malkin’s inexpensive ($6.1 million) salary-cap quantity.
The “let’s get loopy” choice: Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild
Hey, let’s simply get bizarre with it. Kaprizov is among the NHL’s finest gamers and is a pending free agent after this season. He is already turned down a possible record-setting contract provide from the Wild, and that would open the door for a possible commerce. Even when the Panthers had no intention of re-signing him (or potential to re-sign him given the wage cap), it could be a method to push all of their chips to the middle of the desk and go for yet another massive run at a three-peat.
As talked about above, they’ve heart choices with Bennett, Reinhart and Lundell who can deal with the workload down the center, and with Tkachuk sidelined for the beginning of the season, extra wing assist can be a pleasant bonus.
The 2 massive obstacles right here: The Wild might not wish to transfer Kaprizov even with the contract uncertainty, and the Panthers have one of many NHL’s worst farm techniques and no first-round draft picks till 2028, so commerce property can be problematic for such a blockbuster transfer. However that is why it is the “let’s get loopy” choice.
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