Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Panthers can plug secondary needs starting today
Panthers general Dale Tallon has insisted and maintained that his hockey club would not be major players when the NHL’s free agency period opens today.
“We’re going to sit tight and be patient,” Tallon said after the draft last weekend.
“Usually, July 1st, it’s very expensive, but we’ll be very patient the rest of the summer and we’ll add some pieces if we deem it necessary,” Tallon said during development camp this past week.
Sunday will offer the Panthers the opportunity to improve through free agency, an area in which the team has historically not been a big spender. But the Panthers don’t have many holes to fill — at least not major ones.
Tallon and the Panthers already addressed a pair of needs this summer. They traded for scoring winger Mike Hoffman despite bizarre accusations that his fiancée cyberbullied a teammate’s wife in Ottawa. Hoffman provides speed and skill to the Panthers’ top-six and has score at least 22 goals in each of the last four seasons.
Florida signed Russian defenseman Bogdan Kiselevich to a low-risk, one-year, $925,000 contract to shore up the blue line. The 28-year-old is a left-handed shutdown defenseman who will complement the Panthers’ offensive defensemen like Keith Yandle, Mike Matheson and Aaron Ekblad.
Tallon said the team would still like to add more experience to the roster, but fitting in a veteran won’t be easy. The Panthers have 15 forwards for 12 spots, not counting restricted free agent Jared McCann or AHL prospects Dryden Hunt and Anthony Greco or Finnish winger Henrik Haapala.
They have six defensemen under contract and qualifying offers out to restricted free agents Alexander Petrovic and MacKenzie Weegar. But low-cost, veteran defensemen like Ian Cole or Calvin De Haan could make sense for the Panthers if Tallon can restructure the rest of the blue line.
The Panthers will also have to address a need for a No. 3 goaltender. Harri Sateri, who arguably saved Florida’s season with his strong play after the All-Star break, is a free agent and will not be re-signing with Florida, a source confirmed.
In nine NHL games last season, Sateri had a .911 save percentage and 2.92 goals against average. He backstopped a four-game winning streak after the AllStar break that sparked a remarkable second-half playoff push for the Panthers. Florida finished with 96 points, one point short of the postseason.
Florida will likely rely on a 39-year-old Roberto Luongo and James Reimer to man the crease this season. Luongo, though, has played 75 games combined in that last two seasons and missed significant time last season with hand, groin and rib injuries. Reimer also suffered a groin injury and has never started more than 42 games in his career.
The NHL free agent goalie market is saturated with options. Carter Hutton, Petr Mrazek, Anton Khudobin, Kari Lehtonen, Jaroslav Halak, Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchison are all unrestricted free agents. So is Mike McKenna, who led the Texas Stars to the Calder Cup Final in the AHL.