Florida Panthers Offseason Outlook

Florida Panthers Offseason Outlook

the boquist have a lot to feel good about this story first thing I thought when I read it heartwarming yeah it is I mean Brothers together and you know we see this frequently across the NHL and Through the Years um feels to me just anecdotally like it’s becoming more and more frequent uh but you know with two brothers playing in the same organization uh pretty spectacular and twoo you know this is we talked about this before we came on air today Tony you know these are the challenges that great teams face you know you’re trying to keep that window open wide uh in a in a cap environment uh you’ve got that external pressure pushing hard on you know your ability to uh keep a roster together year in year out um you look outside for alternatives to players that have gone on it it talking specifically about these Florida Panthers now that you lose a Brandon Montour through unrestricted free agency um it’s you know what is what is Plan B how do you fashion together a Decor uh not from scratch but how do you supplement that Decor in a way that allows you to get past the subtraction that is Brandon Montour at Cup final media day Paul Maurice was so clear in saying that bill Zito gave him a much better team this year it doesn’t often happen that a team loses the Cup Final comes back the next year with more Talent it just doesn’t and yet this is a tribute to Bill Zito it’s not about sentimentality when he puts together the boquist this is about putting together a back end that will’ll be able to hopefully skate in the footsteps of the group that helped them win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history as you look at the additions and the subtractions what’s your biggest takeaway when you first look at focusing on the decor you you look at two guys sub on the subtractions column look go four four notches down Oliver Eckman Larson then right before that Brandon Montour those are two impactful Defenders for these Florida Panthers oh yes instrumental um here’s the interesting thing I think going forward um you know on the additions board you’ve got a Nate Schmidt who I’ve long been a fan of I think he’s just a fabulous Defender and again a guy you would covet just in terms of his contribution character and chemistry inside the room uh but Nate Schmidt will make an impact there and goes a long way towards diminishing the subtraction of an oel of a Brandon mour um Nate Schmidt is a guy that’s probably going to factor in as a five or a six for this group depends on how they kind of uh structure the roster but the second point in all that here’s another luxury that the players have kind of given their general manager in this respect gusta forsling and mo Niko Mika really throughout the regular season you see their game progress but in the post season this is where it really came true there were moments in the postseason you could fashion an argument for Gustaf forsling as the the the KMI Trophy winner just the contribution he made to his group the way he stepped up and the dis and the distinction from you know other earlier parts of his career how he had really kind of risen to the occasion point I’m making is um yes you hate to lose a Brandon Montour but adding you know adding in the value that now Mika and fors are contributing on a nightly basis adding in a Nate Schmidt you’ve gotone a long ways if you’re Bill Zito you’ve gone a long ways uh just in terms of addressing that void left by a Montour and there’s a natural parallel the guy who was quarterbacking the power play when it mattered most in game seven o bought out by the Vancouver Canucks what a difference a year makes and in the case of Nate Schmidt bought out by Winnipeg this is a young man who we saw with the Vegas gold knights in a cup final playing with tremendous emotion and heart and determination for him to join a team that has the kind of culture this one has is a statement do they need to add more or are you comfortable with what it looks like right now you know I I I really do think if there’s another number for a a top four transaction out there and it’s it’s difficult to say that you know if it hasn’t kind of broken Loose by this point um odds are unlikely that it will it leaves you looking forward to the trade deadline for these Florida Panthers and by then you’ve got a long long look at how is how has this Decor I’ve assembled um performed over the course of the year that may be an area they want to address but I do see really solid depth there um the the kind of a group that is going to defend exceptionally well for these group for a team that plays really solid structure just top to bottom um and and does again the decor have some some offensive upside so there’s I I’m content to kind of look at this group see how they perform over the course of the year um um come deadline time you might identify there’s a need there hard to say tremendous momentum president’s trophy cup final winning the cup that’s their last three seasons wow

The defending Stanley Cup Champions have been aggressive in the early part of the NHL offseason. NHL Tonight takes a look at the Panthers’ offseason moves.

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