The Florida Panthers introduced on Friday that celebrity middle Aleksander Barkov is going to miss seven to nine months after struggling ACL and MCL accidents in observe on Thursday. Together with the damage to star winger Matthew Tkachuk, it leaves some main holes within the lineup of a group that’s attempting to win a 3rd consecutive Stanley Cup (and attain a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup Remaining).
The very best-case situation for Barkov is a possible return in some unspecified time in the future within the playoffs. The worst-case situation is that they see him subsequent season.
Regardless that the depth of the roster continues to be robust, these are two tough gamers to switch internally. Given the salary-cap flexibility they might have following the accidents, it does create some potential commerce choices for the Panthers.
So let us take a look at some potential commerce targets they might 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 large 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 chance to shelve Barkov for the season, make an enormous commerce after which carry a probably 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 might 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 Might and depart themselves the cap flexibility to take action.
The wise choice: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, New York Islanders
The Islanders are type of in a middle-ground right here the place the roster just isn’t fairly ok to contend, and so they have a brand new basic supervisor who has made some large strikes with a concentrate on the long run. Pageau is within the closing 12 months of his contract and might 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 flexibleness to play middle 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 by way of commerce capital.
The “it might make lots 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 a minimum of some hypothesis. Malkin just isn’t the participant he was at his peak, however he nonetheless has some juice to his sport and would get an opportunity to play with some authentic linemates (one thing that has been a wrestle for him with the state of Pittsburgh’s roster the previous two years).
If they might persuade him to waive his no-movement clause to make a Marchand-like run in Florida, it might make sense. Particularly with Malkin’s reasonably priced ($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 without doubt one of the NHL’s greatest 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 skill to re-sign him given the wage cap), it might be a option to push all of their chips to the middle of the desk and go for yet another large run at a three-peat.
As talked about above, they’ve middle 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 large obstacles right here: The Wild could 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 belongings can be problematic for such a blockbuster transfer. However that is why it is the “let’s get loopy” choice.
