Panthers place Matthew Tkachuk on LTIR, freeing up lots of cap space ahead of NHL Trade Deadline
The Florida Panthers have had a busy weekend.
On Saturday, the Cats swung a massive trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, acquiring defenseman Seth Jones and a 2026 4th Round Pick in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 2026 1st Round Pick.
Chicago retained about 25% of Jones’ contract, which carries a $9.5 million AAV through 2030. Florida will be responsible for about $7 million annually.
In the wake of the trade, some moves had to be made on the Panthers side to make the financials work, and to fill out the roster.
Sunday morning, Florida’s roster on the NHL Media website indicated that Matthew Tkachuk, who has been out with an apparent groin injury since the 4 Nations Face-Off, had been placed on Injured Reserve.
According to PuckPedia, Tkachuk is actually going on LTIR, which means he must miss at least 10 games and 24 days, but also removes his $9.5 million cap hit off the books.
If Tkachuk does not return until the postseason, where the salary cap isn’t an issue anymore, Florida can use their newfound, albeit temporary cap space and load up for a playoffs.
That gives the Panthers a ton of financial flexibility to work at with at the NHL Trade Deadline, as they now have $8.7 million in cap space to work with, per PuckPedia.
The Trade Deadline is coming up on Friday.
Will they search for a replacement for Knight? Perhaps add some scoring or muscle to their forward ranks?
For now, the Panthers called up goalie Chris Driedger from AHL Charlotte to serve as Bobrovsky’s backup.
Whoever Florida decides to roll with as their backup goalie, that person will be called upon fairly often down the stretch of the regular season.
The Panthers have 21 games remaining on their schedule, including five sets of back-to-back games that all come during the final 30 days of the season.
It’s going to be busy for the Cats.
We’ll see how things shake out over the next several days, but it should be a fun situation to see play out for Panthers fans.
Don't change that dial!
Caption for photo at top of page: Dec 14, 2024; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) during the second period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. (Sergei Belski-Imagn Images)
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