Florida could advance to Cup Final with win over the Rangers
The 2024 Memorial Cup Final will not include either Buffalo Sabres prospect Vsevolod Komarov or Matthew Savoie, as the Saginaw Spirit advanced to face their OHL counterpart, the London Knights on Sunday. Savoie and the Moose Jaw Warriors lost 7-1 and finished the tournament with a 1-3 record.
The Warriors' only victory came against Komarov’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, as the QMJHL champions went winless. Savoie had four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in four games, while Komarov had two assists in three games.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Florida Panthers have a chance to advance to their second straight Stanley Cup Final with a win in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers on Saturday night. The Panthers have won two straight and have dominated most of the series territorially, but the Rangers are still in the series due mostly to the heroics of goalie Igor Shesterkin.
Reinhart is one of four former Sabres who will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, and according to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Florida GM Bill Zito is hoping to re-sign the 2014 second-overall pick to a contract extension, but that will be challenging coming off a career-high 57 goal season. Ex-Buffalo team captain Kyle Okposo is 35 and could retire if the Panthers achieve the ultimate prize.
Brandon Montour could be the most sought-after defenseman on the open market, with a career-high 73 points and eight goals in the run to the Cup Final last season, and bouncing back from off-season surgery to be a big contributor for the Panthers in their current playoff run. Florida has just under $20 million in cap space going into the summer and has 11 unrestricted free agents and a restricted free agent in forward Anton Lundell, which means Zito will have to make some tough decisions.
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