Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Bolland and top pick traded
Coyotes send draft picks
The Florida Panthers’ busy offseason continued Thursday with a trade that will clear up several million dollars of salary-cap space. They sent oft-injured center Dave Bolland and 2015 first-round pick Lawson Crouse to the Arizona Coyotes for future secondand third-round draft picks.
The Panthers will receive the 2017 third-round pick of the Coyotes or Detroit Red Wings, whichever is higher. They’ll also receive Arizona’s 2018 conditional second-round pick. However, if Crouse doesn’t play in Arizona this season, the second-round pick becomes an additional 2017 third-round pick.
In trading Bolland, the Panthers are off the hook for $16.5 million they would have owed him over the next three years.
“We made the deal to really clear up cap and contract space,’’ assistant general manager Eric Joyce said. “Everyone knows that we were at 49 contracts and were pretty tight against the cap, and also we had lost some picks at the trade deadline last year and felt like we needed to continue to acquire good picks.
“But in reality, everyone that’s been successful in this league in the last five to seven years has given themselves flexibility to maneuver both in the summertime and throughout the season. Things pop up like guys get hurt, some guys maybe fall off, prospects not producing, and we didn’t have that flexibility right now, so we figured we would move Dave.
“He’s got a significant injury; it’s going to be hard to come back and play this year and in the future, so to move him and clear up that cap space, the cost of doing that unfortunately was Lawson Crouse.
“It’s incredibly hard to lose a player like Lawson. We made a deal to try to improve our hockey team, and Arizona tried to improve their hockey team, and that’s how it happened.’’
Crouse, 19, was the No. 11 pick in 2015 and was expected to compete for a spot on either the Panthers’ third or fourth line in training camp next month. Crouse had 23 goals and 62 points in 49 games for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League last season.
The 6-foot-4, 220pound Crouse, nicknamed “Sheriff ” for his toughness and willingness to defend his teammates with his checks and fists, could have given the Panthers a physical edge that they may be missing after trading defenseman Erik Gudbranson to Vancouver for young forward Jared McCann.
But he would have been battling to make the Panthers’ roster this season after they signed forwards Colton Sceviour and Jonathan Marchessault last month.
If he didn’t crack the lineup, Crouse would have had to return to juniors because a player must be at least 20 years old to play in the AHL.
Crouse has a much better chance of making the Coyotes, who haven’t reached the playoffs since the 2011-12 season.
Bolland, 30, was signed to a five-year deal worth $27.5 million in the summer of 2014, but the twotime Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks had just seven goals and 28 points in 78 games over two injury-plagued seasons with Florida.
He never fully recovered from an ankle injury suffered during his lone season with the Maple Leafs in 2013-14.
Through the work of Rowe as well as co-assistant general managers Joyce and Steve Werier, the Panthers roster payroll now sits at $63,170,833, according to Capfriendly .com, which would clear $9.82 million of space for next year’s crop of free agents. The Panthers have 47 players signed to professional contracts and are allowed three more in case they need midseason help.