Team betting on ‘fresh starts’

Talented underachievers acquired at the deadline via some low-risk moves

There are no All-Stars joining the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline. The NHL’s most surprising Stanley Cup contender didn’t make a run at Taylor Hall, or decide to part with a first-round pick for Nick Foligno or David Savard.

Instead, Monday was filled with conversations about fresh starts and changes of scenery, upside and long-term potential. The Panthers made one more trade for Sam Bennett on deadline day to finish off a month filled with low-risk, high-reward moves.

“We didn’t necessarily have a plan to have a nexus between each acquisition where they all had that similar trait,” general manager Bill Zito said, “but, reflecting back on guys, it seems as if many of them do.”

Florida’s three additions since Saturday — defenseman Brandon Montour, winger Nikita Gusev and Bennett — all took similar paths to Broward County and their journeys all fit a pattern Zito has established since he took over as GM ahead of the 2020-21 NHL season.

Montour was a second-round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, started his career with two-anda-half strong seasons with the Anaheim Ducks, and then struggled for three seasons with the Buffalo Sabres before Florida traded for him Saturday. Gusev was the most valuable player of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League in 2018, but had just five points with the New Jersey Devils this year before they waived him on Friday, letting the Panthers sign him Sunday. Bennett was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, but never scored more than 36 points in a season with the Calgary Flames before Florida traded for him just before the trade deadline Monday.

None of the three have All-Star history, but all have All-Star talent. The Panthers, who are getting career years from pretty much every under-30 player on the roster, are banking on breakthroughs once these still-young skaters get under coach Joel Quenneville’s thumb.

“The resume speaks for itself, so it’s good to learn and experience, and talk and all those things with a guy like that,” Montour said. “I’m obviously looking forward to that, and excited just to put on that jersey and start something fresh. I think I needed that.”

Florida (26-12-4) spent the weeks before the deadline gearing up to stockpile talent for a run in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Panthers shed winger Brett Connolly’s contract in a five-player deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday to give them more than $12 million cap space — more than enough room to chase some of the biggest names on the

market or, with steady goaltender Chris Driedger also relatively expendable, even make a surprise run at a star.

Instead, the Bennett trade was the most costly of Florida’s three major weekend moves and the Panthers finished the day with more than $10 million in cap space.

Massive upside

Bennett, 24, has just 12 points in 38 games this season, yet Florida parted with a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and prospect Emil Heineman — a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft — to land the versatile forward, plus a 2022 sixthround pick. It cost the Panthers virtually as much to land Bennett as it did for the Boston Bruins to get Hall from the Sabres, and the left wing won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2018.

Bennett, however, will remain under team control beyond this season, while Hall is a one-year, $8 million deal. Bennett will be a restricted free agent after this season, which means Florida will be able to extend him via a qualifying offer. He also has 11 goals and 19 points in 30 career playoff games.

The Panthers will give him a shot to earn playing time anywhere in the lineup.

“He’s a guy who projects probably a little more on the wing than center and has had maybe a little more success there, but really can play across the spectrum in the lineup, and up and down,” Zito said. “We’ll just have to see how and where the coaches play him.”

‘Fresh start’

Montour, 27, will help fill the void left behind with Aaron Ekblad likely out for the season, and fellow defenseman Keith Yandle struggling and facing dwindling playing time. All it cost Florida to get him was a third-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Montour, who’s on a one-year deal worth $3.85 million, looked like a rising star early in his career, recording at least 20 assists and 30 points in each of his first two seasons before the Ducks traded him to Buffalo.

Injuries quickly piled up for Montour, who played for three coaches in two years with the Sabres, and he struggled to gain traction in Buffalo. He didn’t play much on the power play — he feels it’s one of his strengths — and he never found a set position, moving often between left and right defense. His hope is Quenneville will let him play more to his offensive strengths on the power play and joining the rush.

“We’ve spoken a few times now and I think he sees my strengths, and wants to use those the best we can and I think this team is going to allow me to do that,” Montour said. “It’s a fresh start. I’m looking forward to it.”

Change of scenery

Gusev, 28, could slot in almost anywhere in the lineup and, most importantly, he gives the Panthers another weapon on the power play while they’re stuck in a 2-of-24 funk with the extra man.

If he hits, Gusev could potentially play on one of Florida’s top two lines with star forwards Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau or Carter Verhaeghe. If he doesn’t, then Panthers only spent $1 million on him for a one-year deal and could easily take him out of the lineup.

“We’ll find a place for him to play,” Quenneville said, “and he’ll tell us how much and exactly where he’ll play.”