Florida GM discusses team needs, addressing injuries and players potentially taking less to play for Panthers
The Florida Panthers are in an interesting position heading into the NHL’s busy summer season.
Over the next few days, the NHL Draft will take place and free agency will open.
It’s an extremely busy time for hockey executives and an amazingly fun time for hockey fans, with players being drafted, signed, and traded as teams jostle to make themselves better than they were a season ago.
The Panthers enter the offseason with some options to consider.
Florida is expected to return with much of the same team it finished last season with, as 16 players are under contract and considered likely to be on the Opening Night roster.
The team’s unrestricted free agents include Radko Gudas, Patric Hornqvist, Alex Lyon and the Staal brothers, Eric and Marc, as well as two-way candidates Zac Dalpe, Lucas Carlsson and Casey Fitzgerald. Restricted free agents are Colin White, Givani Smith, Grigori Denisenko, Aleksi Heponiemi and AHL prospects Logan Hutsko, Max Gildon, John Ludvig and Serron Noel.
Throwing a wrench into the gears is knowing that Florida may have some roster regulars, like Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, who may miss time at the beginning of next season due to injuries they sustained during the Panthers’ playoff run.
Speaking of the postseason, Florida extending their schedule a couple months while marching all the way to the Stanley Cup Final put a crunch of the time between the hockey games ending and the draft and free agency.
It’s a problem any hockey team would gladly take, but it still provides a deeper challenge to a team with limited draft capital and a roster to complete.
“As far as what our needs might be, those type of larger, institutional questions, those get answered,” Panthers General Manager Bill Zito said in the days leading up to the NHL Draft. “Now, the timeframe that we have to implement them is not great. On the trade front, certainly teams are reluctant to call you when you're in (the playoffs), so now your phones blowing up and I'm trying to get back and handle some of those things. So it's a little chaotic, but it's relatively organized, and it's just time.”
Understanding needs is one element, and it’s one the front office likely had a better handle on than others, though the postseason injuries will make things a little trickier.
Restricted and unrestricted free agents, potential trades, drafting players…it’s a lot to maneuver.
“Some of our needs I think were rather glaring or simple to figure out, but it's almost like a spider web where one addition here could maybe lead you to a different kind of acquisition in another place in the lineup,” Zito explained. “Certainly, with regard to forwards and (defensemen), (where if) I get the one guy, I can kind of go with a young kid here. The cap obviously plays into it, projecting out the free agents plays into it, possible trades play into it, so there's a lot of moving parts and can be dizzying.”
Zito has also expressed a desire to try and keep the current Panthers group together.
Florida came within three wins of the Stanley Cup, and perhaps would have completed the journey had the team not been hit with a rash of injuries that continued piling up as the playoffs progressed.
“It's a daunting challenge,” Zito said. “Now we have a problem here, we don't know exactly when we'll be getting the (injured) players back, so can we fill those holes or not? And if we don't, can we find reinforcements to the extent that they keep us afloat until the players come back? With regard to next year, certainly we'll be talking to the agents for all the players and trying to get players signed and is we're going to have the same type of problems that the Tampa's do…when you win, people get paid. Even if we spend it all, there are certain players who we may not be able to retain, and they didn't do anything wrong and they're not disloyal, it's just the way the system works. So we'll do our best and warranted to our team that I feel like I owe it to them to try to get them together and give them a chance, and I will do that.”
When looking at the Panthers’ returning roster and examining how the team found success both late in the regular season and then during the playoffs, it leads to the idea that South Florida has become a destination players will want to go to find success and perhaps set themselves up for larger paydays as a result.
“It's an interesting dynamic,” Zito said. “There are players for whom the opportunity that we will have this year is literally invaluable. 'You want to come and play for us? Well, here's our need, and someone (will be) playing there, and it's a pretty good bet that whoever plays in that spot is going to have success, almost by default, right? You show up and you're going to get X amount, particularly in our forward group."
Zito then told a story from his days as a player agent.
He and a player he described as “a high-end free agent coming from Europe” went to Detroit to meet with then-Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland.
“He brought us in this room, and (Detroit) had just won the Cup, and they had all 12 forwards coming back,” Zito said, explaining that he and his client were wondering where the fit would be.
“(Holland) said, ‘What are you doing here? Why would you come?’” Zito continued. “Ken, you invited us. He said, ‘Yeah, but you're thinking how am I ever going to play? If you're a good player, you're gonna play with good players.’”
Zito said that was a “ding ding ding” moment.
“I'm mindful that that could be where some players might be making a short-term financial sacrifice to fit in, so we can do it,” he said, adding, “Also, there's a significant opportunity by coming and being a part of this.”
We’ll see how things play out for Zito and the Panthers in the coming days.