Panthers add depth, scoring at forward by obtaining Tarasenko from Senators
The Panthers have fortified their forward depth ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline as they prepare for another push for a Stanley Cup.
The Panthers on Wednesday acquired forward Vladimir Tarasenko, 32, from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a pair of draft picks.
The picks: a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft and Florida’s third-round selection in 2025. The 2024 pick becomes a thirdrounder if the Panthers win the Stanley Cup.
The Senators also are retaining half of Tarasenko’s $5 million cap hit. The Panthers had $5,719,698 in projected cap space before the trade, according to the website CapFriendly.
With Florida having to cover only $2.5 million, general manager Bill Zito has the freedom to make more moves ahead of the trade deadline, which is 3 p.m. Friday.
“Vladimir is a highly skilled and experienced scoring winger who provides our club with another dynamic offensive option as we embark on the remainder of our season,” Zito said in a press release.
“We are excited for him to join our team, and to compete for the Stanley Cup once again”
Tarasenko is in his 12th NHL season and has 615 points (287 goals, 328 assists) through 732 games.
He spent the first 101⁄2 seasons of his career with the St. Louis Blues before being traded (along with now-Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola) to the New York Rangers.
Tarasenko signed a one-year, $5 million deal with Ottawa in the offseason and has 17 goals and 24 assists so far this season.
HIS PANTHERS’ ROLE
Tarasenko gives the Panthers another forward who can contribute offensively. Where he plays once he arrives in South Florida is to be determined.
Tarasenko is a lefthanded shot who has played almost exclusively on the right wing. Florida already has Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk as the right wings for its top two forward lines.
Two potential options if the Panthers want Tarasenko on one of the top lines:
1.) Tarasenko on the left wing of the top line with Aleksander Barkov at center and Reinhart at right wing, with Carter Verhaeghe moving to left wing on the second line (currently occupied by Nick Cousins).
2.) Tarasenko on the right wing of the second line, with Tkachuk moving from right wing to left wing and Sam Bennett at center.
A third possibility: Evan Rodrigues is the right wing on Florida’s third line but is comfortable playing on both wings, so the Panthers could move him to the left wing of the second line and Tarasenko could start his Florida tenure on the right wing of the third line playing alongside
For summaries, complete standings, scores go to the eEdition at MiamiHerald.com.
Florida Boston Toronto Detroit Tampa Bay Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Metropolitan
NY Rangers Carolina Philadelphia NY Islanders Washington Pittsburgh New Jersey Columbus
Dallas Winnipeg Colorado Nashville St. Louis Minnesota Arizona Chicago Pacific
Vancouver Edmonton Los Angeles Vegas Seattle Calgary Anaheim San Jose
GP W LOT Pts GF GA
63 43 16 4 90 211 150 64 36 13 15 87 213 177 61 35 18 8 78 225 194 61 33 22 6 72 216 195 63 33 24 6 72 214 213 62 29 29 4 62 183 187 62 24 28 10 58 177 222 59 25 31 3 53 195 212 GP W L OT Pts GF GA
62 40 18 4 61 36 19 6 63 32 23 8 61 27 20 14 60 28 23 9 60 28 24 8 62 30 28 4 62 21 31 10
84 206 172 78 201 172 72 190 186 68 184 203 65 160 193 64 179 169 64 205 219 52 187 228
GP W LOT Pts GF GA
64 38 17 9 85 232 196 61 39 17 5 83 190 148 63 38 20 5 81 232 194 63 35 25 3 73 202 194 62 32 27 3 67 178 191 62 29 27 6 64 194 208 62 25 32 5 55 182 206 63 16 42 5 37 130 225 GP W LOT Pts GF GA
64 40 17 7 60 38 20 2 61 31 19 11 62 33 22 7 62 28 23 11 61 30 26 5 61 22 36 3 61 15 39 7
87 226 177 78 214 173 73 189 164 73 201 185 67 174 176 65 191 191 47 162 216 37 135 242
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.
THURSDAY
Philadelphia at Florida, 7
Calgary at Tampa Bay, 7
Edmonton at Columbus, 7
Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell.
Tarasenko is also experienced on the power play, with 68 power-play goals and 167 points while playing a man up in his NHL career.
TOP TEAM IN NHL
The Panthers are atop the NHL standings with a 43-16-4 record. They have won 16 of their past 18 games and have picked up points in 27 of their past 31 games.
Their 90 points are three ahead of both the Vancouver Canucks (40-17-7) and Boston Bruins (36-13-15), both of whom have played one more game than Florida.
The Panthers next play
Montreal at Carolina, 7
St. Louis at New Jersey, 7 Toronto at Boston, 7
Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 Buffalo at Nashville, 8
Minnesota at Arizona, 9 Vancouver at Vegas, 10
N.Y. Islanders at San Jose, 10:30 Ottawa at Los Angeles, 10:30
WEDNESDAY
Buffalo at Toronto
Detroit at Colorado
Ottawa at Anaheim
TUESDAY
Florida 5, New Jersey 3
Pittsburgh 5, Columbus 3 Edmonton 2, Boston 1 (OT) NY Islanders 4, St. Louis 2 Montreal 4, Nashville 3 (OT) Seattle 4, Winnipeg 3
Chicago 5, Arizona 2
Vancouver 2, Los Angeles 1 (OT) Dallas 7, San Jose 6 (OT)
Florida 2 1 2—5 New Jersey 1 1 1—3
First Period:—1, Florida, Cousins 4 (M.Tkachuk) 2:54 2, Florida, Rodrigues 10 (M.Tkachuk, Bennett) 6:30 (pp) 3, New Jersey, J.Hughes 21 (Bratt, L.Hughes) 11:45 (pp).Penalties:—Hughes, NJ (delay of game), 4:47; Stenlund, Fla (tripping), 10:32; MacDermid, NJ (roughing), 13:26; Reinhart, Fla (tripping), 14:17.
Second Period:—4, New Jersey, Meier 14 (unassisted) 11:01 5, Florida, Luostarinen 11 (Kulikov, Ekman-Larsson) 12:37.Penalties:—Lomberg, Fla (tripping), 8:45.
Third Period:—6, Florida, Cousins 5 (Forsling, M.Tkachuk) 5:33 7, New Jersey, C.Miller 4 (Bratt, J.Hughes) 11:16 8, Florida, Reinhart 45 (Ekblad) 19:52 (en).Penalties:—None.
Shots on Goal:—Florida
New Jersey 3-14-7—24.
Power-play opportunities:—Florida
2; New Jersey 1 of 3.
Goalies:—Florida Stolarz 12-5-2 (24 shots-21 saves). New Jersey Schmid 5-9-1 (30-26).
A:—15,778 (17,625).T:—2:35.
Referees:—Tom Chmielewski, Pierre Lambert.Linesmen:—Dan Kelly, Julien Fournier. 11-9-11—31. at 7 p.m. Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena. They wrap up the twogame homestand at 4 p.m. Saturday against the Calgary Flames.
The Panthers’ latest victory came Tuesday night at New Jersey, a 5-3 victory over the Devils. It was Florida’s sixth win in a row.
Cousins had two goals for Florida and Tkachuk had three assists.
The Devils were playing their first game under interim coach Travis Green, who replaced Lindy Ruff on Monday.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
1 of (Home team in ALL CAPS)
Team
DALLAS Brooklyn Minnesota PHOENIX GOLDEN ST. SACRAMENTO Boston
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2
2 10½ 6½
9
1
Team
S. ALABAMA MURRAY ST. LOUISIANA BELMONT PEPPERDINE Texas State AMERICAN ILLINOIS ST. COLGATE OAKLAND (Mich.) BOSTON U.
Ala. Birmingham WISCONSIN Lehigh
YOUNGST. ST. SFA
WRIGHT ST.
O/U (228) (217) (231) (232½) (223) (237½) (221½)
2½ 1½ 10½ 11½ 10½ 1½ 4½ 3½ 17½ 4½ 3½ 2½ 9½ 3½ 8½ 7½ 7½
Team Miami DETROIT INDIANA Toronto Chicago San Antonio DENVER
Team Georgia Southern Missouri State Coastal Carolina Valparaiso Pacific SOUTHERN MISS Bucknell Evansville Holy Cross Purdue Ft. Wayne Navy TEMPLE Rutgers LAFAYETTE Cleveland State Southern Utah Northern Kentucky
SO. CAL. GEORGIA ST. OREGON WASH. ST. S. ILLINOIS Arizona
Utah
Team Line Team FLORIDA -225 Philadelphia TAMPA BAY -154 Calgary Edmonton -280 COLUMBUS CAROLINA -300 Montreal NEW JERSEY -182 St. Louis BOSTON -137 Toronto PITTSBURGH -172 Washington NASHVILLE -154 Buffalo Minnesota -134 ARIZONA VEGAS -115 Vancouver NY Islanders -260 SAN JOSE LOS ANGELES -178 Ottawa
For the latest odds, go to https://www.scoresandstats.com
Name, Team
A.Matthews, Tor. S.Reinhart, Flor. Z.Hyman, Edm. 7½ 1½ 1½ 6½ 5½ 8½ 7½
Line +184 +128 +225 +240 +150 +114 +142 +128 +112 -104 +210 +146