Jokinen is waived to help cut salary
Tallon says he’s still talking to Jagr’s agent
The Florida Panthers may have added two Finnish forwards in the NHL draft last week, but they will lose another after placing veteran left wing Jussi Jokinen onwaivers Friday for the purpose of buying out his contract.
However, they are adding a Russian as they have come to an agreement with former Panthers right wing Evgeni Dadonov, according to a source. Thecontract is for three years at an average of $4 million per year, according to TSN.
The Panthers have been shedding salary, positioning themselves to be aggressive whenfree agency opens at noon today.
Dadonov, 28, was drafted in 2007 by the Panthers in the third round. He played parts of three seasons from 2009-12, scoring 10 goals and 20 points before bolting for the KHL, where he has been the last six seasons. He’s coming off a career66-point season, including 30 goals for SKA St. Petersburg — where left wing Ilya Kovalchuk is also on the roster.
Kovalchuk, 34, is available but would have to be acquired via a sign-and-trade deal because he’s still the property of
the New Jersey Devils after playing the last four seasons in the KHL.
The Devils have said they are willing to deal Kovalchuk, who scored 32 goals for St. Petersburg in 2016-17. He has 417 career NHL goals in 11 seasons, including 37 goals (83 points) in his last full season with the Devils in 2011-12.
In addition, the Panthers re-signed restricted freeagent defenseman Alex Petrovic to a one-year deal at $1.8 million, according to a source.
Jokinen, 34, had one year remaining on his contract at $4 million, so if he’s not claimed by noon today, the Panthers can buy out twothirds of his contract, meaning the former assistant captain will receive $1.3 million over the next two seasons.
The team would save a total of $1.3 million, leaving about $15.8 million in salary cup funds available. If he goes unclaimed, Jokinen will become an unrestricted free agent.
Last week, the Panthers lopped almost $6 million off their payroll when they lost right wing Jonathan Marchessault ($750,000) to the Golden Knights in the expansion draft and traded right wing Reilly Smith (5 years at $5 million per) to Vegas.
Tallon is also playing hardball with impending free-agent right wing Jaromir Jagr, 45, who earned $5.5 million last season, including $1.5 million in bonuses.
Tall on said Thursday after the team’ s Summer Summit event that he’s still speaking to Jagr’s agent Petr Svoboda almost on a daily basis, and that he could sign the icon in September or October if he’s not gobbled up by another team this weekend.
Meanwhile, Jagr expressed his frustration at Florida’s lack of urgency with a couple of tweets Thursday in which he joked that in 1994, when hewas at the height of his powers, every general manager was calling him during free agency, but in 2017: “0.”
After a sterling 2015-16 season in which Jokinen scored 60 points, including a team-leading 42 assists (and aplus-25), onaproductive line with Smith and Vincent Trocheck, he slumped to 11 goals and 28 points with a minus-15 in 69 games. Jokinen admitted after last season that he had played most of the year with a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee.
Due to the potential loss of four top-six forwards from last year’s disappointing 81-point season — and the fact that Tallon has repeatedly said he’s content with his defensive depth — the Panthers will be shopping for wings as soon as free agency opens Saturday. Tallon said he will add “two or three or whatever pieces we have to get that’s going to make us better.”
Among the elite freeagent wings available are the Canadiens’ Alexander Radulov, the Coyotes’ Radim Vrbata and the Capitals’ JustinWilliams.
The Panthers could resign Thomas Vanek, 33, their own free-agent left wing, who scored 17 goals and 48 points last season (including 2 goals and 10 points in 20 games with Florida).
Radulov, who turns 31 next week, began his NHL career with the Predators, where he played for twoplus seasons before bolting for the KHL in 2008. He notched a career-high 26 goals for Nashville in 2007-08. Radulov returned toNashville for the last nine games of the2011season, but was suspended for missing curfew during the playoffs. He returned to the KHL for four more seasons.
Tallon also said that a couple of forwards fromdevelopment camp will make the team. The competition for jobs is most likely between Denis Malgin, 20, first-round pick Owen Tippett, 18, Dryden Hunt, 21, and international pros Maxim Mamin, 22, SebastianRepo, 21, andHenrik Haapala, 23, the leading scorer in the Finnish elite league last season.
Tallon added he’s in the market for a veteran backup goalie to mentor prospect Samuel Montembeault in the minors.