Offseason Review, the Panthers were able to add some pieces in the offseason to help their defensive issues, but is it enough to get them into the playoffs, and after losing Bergeron and Hall amongst others could the Bruins miss the playoffs this year.
Now the Panthers knew they would have to add on the blueline this offseason after the injuries they sustained in the playoffs, and they did add some good pieces and re-worked their forward group to be a bit better, but will it be enough to overcome the bad injuries that will keep Ekblad and Montour out the first month and a lag of the year, and after Boston lost a ton of solid forwards in Bergeron, Krejci, Bertuzzi, Hall amongst others, could they wind up being in for a bad season, or will they overcome the challenges and make the playoffs once again, definitely going to be interesting.
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Boston Bruins
2022-23 regular season record:
65-12-5 for 135 points, 1st in Atlantic, 1st in East, won the Presidents Trophy, they would host the Panthers in round 1 of the playoffs and after taking a commanding 3-1 series lead over Florida, the Panthers would crawl back and pull off one of the upsets of the century, as they won 3 straight and beated the Bruins in 7 games 4-3 in round 1.
Significant Offseason losses:
C P.Bergeron 27-31-58 78GP (Retired)
C D.Krejci 16-40-56 70GP (Retired)
LW,RW T.Bertuzzi 8-22-30 50GP (TOR)
LW T.Hall 16-20-36 61GP (CHI)
LW,C,RW N.Foligno 10-16-26 60GP (CHI)
C,LW T.Nosek 7-11-18 66GP (NJ)
RW,LW G.Hathaway 13-9-22 84GP (PHI)
RW,C C.Wagner 0-0-0 1GP (COL)
C,RW V.Lettieri 0-0-0 1GP (MIN)
C S.Bowers 0-0-0 1GP (NJ)
LD D.Orlov 7-29-36 66GP (CAR)
RD C.Clifton 5-18-23 78GP (BUF)
RD A.Stralman 0-0-0 8GP (UFA)
Significant Offseason Additions:
LW,RW M.Lucic 7-12-19 77GP
C,RW P.Brown 4-8-12 61GP
C,RW M.Geekie 9-19-28 69GP
LW,RW J.V Reimsdyk 12-17-29 61GP
C,LW,RW J.Megna 2-6-8 55GP
LW,RW A.Richard 3-2-5 13GP
C,LW,RW J.Boqvist 10-11-21 70GP
C J.Farinacci (College stats) 5-15-20 19GP
RD Reilly Walsh (AHL Numbers) 9-32-41 71GP
RD Ian Mitchell 1-7-8 35GP
RD Alec Regula 0-0-0 4GP
RD K.Shattenkirk 4-23-27 75GP
Top 3 Bruins picks in the 2023 draft
3RD #28 C C.Pelosi
4RD #28 LW B.Hendrickson
6RD #28 C,LW,RW R.Walsh
My Preseason projected 23 man lineup
B.Marchand-P.Zacha-D.Pastrnak
J.DeBrusk-C.Coyle-F.Lysell
J.V Reimsdyk-M.Geekie-T.Frederic
M.Lucic-J.Boqvist-A.J Greer
H.Lindholm-C.McAvoy
D.Forbort-B.Carlo
M.Grzelyck-K.Shattenkirk
L.Ullmark
J.Swayman
J.Lauko-P.Brown
CAP: $82.81, SPACE: $.691
Offseason review and Season Preview:
Now the Bruins last year had probably the best season in NHL History in the regular season, as they put up 135 points and won the Presidents Trophy and a lot of people had the Bruins going pretty deep in the playoffs last year, but after going up 3-1 on the 8th placed team in the East in Florida, they would up choking as they dropped games 5, 6 and a stunning game 7 in OT to drop 3 straight games to the Panthers and wind up losing in round 1 instead of having a deep playoff run, and now after some icons retired this offseason, they tried to do their best to try and keep this team being competitive for years to come and I think their moves this offseason were alright but not fantastic.
So in Net the Bruins had a lot of rumours surrounding their two goalies this offseason as there was a lot of speculation that one could be moved, but the Bruins kept both of them and early on in the season it seems to be paying off for them. Now last year the Bruins once again went into the season with a solid tandem of Ullmark and Swayman, and both goalies were on another level of brilliance last year as Swayman started 33 games and Ullmark started 48 games, and Ullmark won the Vezina last year winning 40 games and had a .938 SV% and a 1.89 GAA last year in the regular season, while Swayman won 24 games and had a solid .920 SV% and a 2.27 GAA in the regular season last year, and although they ran out of steam during the playoffs last year, they were still a absolutely fantastic tandem, but going into this offseason the Bruins lost both Bergeron and Krejci and didn’t have much cap space to replace them, so with the Bruins being a money in money out team, there was a lot of talk that the Bruins could have to move one of those two goalies to acquire a Center upgrade, and according to reports it sounded like there was trade discussions around both Ullmark and pending RFA Swayman in the offseason (maybe a bit more around Ullmark), but the Bruins would stand pat and never move either one of their net-minders and would come to terms with RFA Swayman in a 1 year contract extension in arbitration to keep him around and he will be a RFA again next year and they still have Ullmark for the next few seasons, plus they have a solid up and coming goalie in Bussi in the minors who some think could be a NHL goalie in the not too distant future for that team, so there is definitely some really good depth in Net for the Bruins and they were able to keep it from last year as getting Swayman at the just under $3.5 Million they did just made the team cap compliant, and not moving either goalie has seemed to work for the Bruins this year as I thought they would be a wildcard team this year.
Instead they have started off the year as one of the best in the NHL and they were really carried by their goalies as both have started 7 games this year and so far the younger Swayman has been the better of the two winning 6 of his 7 starts with a astounding .944 SV% and a 1.69 GAA while Ullmark has won 5 putting up a .926 SV% and a 2.26 GAA this year, so all in all I think keeping the elite duo of Swayman-Ullmark this offseason and not moving one to add help on the forward group was the right move, and although one has to ask how long this duo will remain in Boston as Swayman went to arbitration last offseason and most players who go to arbitration don’t usually remain in the organization for long afterwards, and Ullmark has one more season on his deal after this year, so it is concevable that in the next 1-2 years at least 1 of these two wind up getting moved by Boston, but I have to say keeping them together so far has been a blessing for the Bruins and I think they will easily make the playoffs if both goalies continue to produce the way they have to begin the season.
On the defensive end Boston had a pretty solid defensive game last year and they didn’t do much to change that this past offseason. Now last year the Bruins went into the season with minimal changes to their backend and backstopped by their two fantastic goalies that defence did fantastic both offensively and defensively last year and the team didn’t have many pending UFA’s and definitely non of major significance, so after they lost to Florida in round 1 last year, there was some talk that a player still under contract could be moved as they could really use some cap flexibility and that could’ve helped their search for some more offense in their lineup last offseason, but they didn’t make any such moves last offseason. Now they did make a few minor moves in the offseason as they didn’t make many defensive upgrades in-season except for adding Dmitry Orlov who actually fit in quite well as a top 4 defender toward the end of the year and a lot of people thought the Bruins may resign him as he fit in well, but due to the money he was looking for and the little cap space on the Bruins side, Orlov wound up leaving as a free agent and signed in Carolina, and the Bruins lost two other defensemen to free agency as well in the offseason as Clifton who had been a solid 3rd pair defensemen for a couple of years in Boston and was able to put up points left and signed in Buffalo, and Anton Stralman who had been the 8th defender on Boston for most of the year went and signed overseas, so the Bruins did lose a bit of depth and a solid in-season acquisition this offseason to free agency, but they also added some pieces this offseason to their D-Corp as well.
Now they added 3 young defensemen in two separate trades who will be good depth additions for the team this year, now first in a trade that saw them ship Hall to Chicago which we will discuss in a little bit, the Bruins got two RFA D-Men back as a return in Regula and Mitchell. Both signed cheap 1 year deals to remain in Boston and although both haven’t been able to be consistent D-Men during their years in Chicago, they both seem to have good upside and although Regula has been consistently in the AHL to start the year (although doing pretty well their), Mitchell has actually gotten NHL playing time at some points this year which is good for him even though he has been the 7th/8th defender on that team, he is still a really good depth guy who can come up when injuries happen, then they also got another young defender in Walsh in a small trade with the Devils in the offseason, now Walsh doesn’t have the NHL experience that the other two do, but he was a decent prospect who still has some NHL potential and should eventually by a good 6th/7th defender for the Bruins but with Walsh still young and the Bruins having a deep D-Corp he has started this year in the minors, and then their other offseason acquisition in the defensive side was Kevin Shattenkirk, now Shattenkirk played last year with the Ducks and had a solid season and with losing 3rd pair defender Clifton in the offseason and not being overly confident that Mitchell could be a regular NHL player this year, the Bruins bring in Shattenkirk on a not too expensive 1 year deal to be a solid 3rd pair defensemen to replace Clifton and so far he has fit in well on pair 3, so besides a couple of decent additions in Mitchell, Regula, Walsh and Shattenkirk to replace the departures of Orlov, Clifton and Stralman, the Bruins really didn’t do much and they still have their solid top pair of McAvoy and Lindholm which is fantastic and Carlo as their stud number 3, and even though I thought they could move one of Forbort or Grzelyck to clear cap space as both are in the final year of their contracts making more then $3 Million, they would up keeping both to be their 4th and 5th D-Men and they also still have Zboril in the organization and a young up and coming blueliner in Lohrei, so all in all you added some more depth to this blueline in the offseason and besides losing solid in-season acquisition Dmitry Orlov to free agency, this team actually got better as they still have their top 5 defensemen and instead of having Clifton and Stralman, they have Shattenkirk, Mitchell, Regula and Lohrei which just increases the depth on that team, as they have 9-10 defensemen who could play on a regular bases on the 3rd pair, so all in all I think the Bruins did good with their depth defensemen additions replacing the guys who did leave and I think not moving much on the defensive end is a big reason why the Bruins have started out so well this year as they still have most of the elite D-Corp they had last year that did fantastic and in my eyes it could be even better this year.
And finally we go onto the forward group: and on the forward group this is where the biggest moves came this offseason as after some major subtractions this offseason I was concerned this teams offense may take a bit of a step back but so far it hasn’t. Now last year the Bruins added a couple of forwards at the trade deadline in Bertuzzi from Detroit and Hathaway in the Orlov trade to improve their team going into the playoffs and both fit in extremely well, Bertuzzi was the teams best player in the playoffs, while Hathaway fit splendidly on the Bruins 4th line and this team offensively was clicking on all cylinders last year and they didn’t really miss a beat until they lost in round 1 last year, and then they went to the offseason and there was a lot of speculation as to what would happen with the Bruins offense this offseason as they had a lot of questions on this group this offseason and in my eyes they did what they could but I didn’t think they did enough.
Now to start with, it took awhile to get the announcement but what a lot of people thought just after the Panthers beat them in the playoffs did indeed come to fruition this offseason albeit later in the offseason, and that is that long time top 6 Center’s in Bergeron and Krejci both called it a career and decided to retire and this doesn’t come as much surprise as after last year most people thought it would be both their final seasons and it was, so that left a gaping hole up the middle after losing two franchise Center’s, then both of their in-season acquisitions also left via free agency as Hathaway would go to free agency and get money Boston wasn’t willing to pay from Philly, and the Bruins did want to keep Bertuzzi but he was looking for too much so he went to free agency and by the time Bertuzzi’s asking price came down the Bruins didn’t have enough cap space to bring him back, so he want and signed for 1 year in Toronto, and not only did Boston lose this guys, but they were still to much over the cap and like we said earlier they didn’t want to move any of their D-Men or Net minders so they deceived to move Taylor Hall who wasn’t doing overly well last year and pending UFA Nick Foligno to Chicago for the two young defensemen we talked about earlier, so they lost a solid 4th liner from last year who actually did quite well in the bottom six and who they were never paying what he got from the Hawks money wise, and although Hall was a solid 2nd line player and when healthy had been a solid producer for Boston, they needed the cap space to make a run at Bertuzzi (which ultimately didn’t happen) and his $6 Million for 2 more season was the easiest contract to move, so those were two more guys who helped that forward group last year who they wound up losing and they also lost 4th line Center Thomas Nosek who had been a solid bottom six forward in Boston but was not Someone they were overly keen on keeping, so the Bruins this offseason lost Bergeron (retirement) who was the biggest loss given the fact he had been their 1C for what seems like forever, Krejci (retirement) who besides 1 year was the B’s longtime 2C, Hall (traded) who was a good middle six playmaker, Foligno (traded) who was a solid 4th line forward, Nosek (free agency) who was their 4C, Bertuzzi (free agency) who was a fantastic deadline acquisition and Hathaway (free agency) who was a solid deadline pickup who got more money elsewhere and they also lost 4th liner A.J Greer to just before the season due to (waivers), so the Bruins lost a lot of assets this past offseason on the forward group and with them signing a few RFA’s (Swayman and Frederic), having the Bergeron and Krejci bonuses on their cap and not wanting to move a defender or goalie, they were in a really tight cap situation and couldn’t go out and get some big time free agents to replace the guys the lost, so they had to try and sign some lower end guys.
So in free agency they went out signed JVR to a extremely cheap one year deal to sort of help replace the production the team lost by losing Hall and Bertuzzi, they then signed Patrick Brown to a 1 year deal under $1 Million to replace Nosek as their 4C, brought back former Bruins Milan Lucic to bring some grit to their 4th line they lost by losing Hathaway and brought in Morgan Geekie on a 2 year deal who they were very high on and (with Zacha and Coyle now being the teams 1-2 down the middle with Bergeron and Krejci gone and not having any cap space to replace them) they brought him in to replace Coyle as the 3C and they also added some depth pieces like Boqvist, Megna and Richard who were all fringe NHL players, but given their cap space it was all they could do and they still had the super duo of Marchand and Pastrnak who could put points up with the best of them and they still had DeBrusk and Frederic as well as Zacha and Coyle who now had more responsibility, so they still had a solid forward group but it didn’t feel like last year after all the subtractions, so I was really worried about how well they would do this year which is why I had them just making the playoffs, but so far through the first 15 games or so they have actually done rather good and are one of the top teams this year so far, and one of the nice surprises has been Poitras who as you can see in my Preseason lineup predictions I don’t have making the lineup but has thrived ever since being placed on the roster, and there acquisitions have looked splendid, so as much as their offense really took a hit this offseason they have showed they can still produce at a high level and although I was very weary of their offensive game before the year started, I think they have a much better group then I ever could’ve predicted.
Now after losing the first round series to the Panthers last year, I said the 3 reasons Boston lost that series was first due to the fact that their top 2 Center’s and Ullmark all missed some of the series due to injuries and others were banged up, second would be the fact that had a 3-1 series lead and had multiple attempts to end the Panthers but weren’t able to and the third reason was the fact that for most of the series the Panthers offense ran all over them, now I can’t say they won’t be injured again this year but they do have a bit less depth then last year so if someone significant went down with a injury a would be a bit worried, I think just the experience of not closing out the Panthers last year will help them be able to close out a series this year if they get the opportunity, and like I said this team looks a bit better and deeper defensively and as long as both goalies are relatively healthy come playoff time and they are in, I would suspect they would be able to shutdown a opposing teams offense this year, so all in all of the 3 reasons I highlighted for them exiting last years playoffs, I think they were able to rectify at least two of them and I think this year they are in a better place.
Offseason Grade D+: now the Bruins have started out well this year but looking at what they did in the offseason, I didn’t like too much of what they did, as in Net they were smart by keeping both goalies and they did do alright by replacing Clifton with Shattenkirk and adding some young depth pieces to their lineup but not retaining Orlov was a big L, and then in the forward group as much as they have done alright this year, they lost Bergeron, Krejci, Hall, Bertuzzi in their top six and added JVR to replace them while they did alright swapping in and out players in their bottom six, so all in all their forward group took a beating in the offseason, they weren’t able to keep Orlov and although their goaltending is still pretty great, with all the other moves I am pretty confident in giving them a D+ rating for this offseason.
Current Preseason 2023-24 record prediction:
43-32-7 for 93 Points, 4th in Atlantic and 2WC in East, 43 less points then last year.
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Florida Panthers
2022-23 regular season record:
42-32-8 for 92 points, 4th in Atlantic, 2WC in East, the Panthers would go to Boston in round 1 and after digging themselves in a 3-1 hole, they would storm back and win 3 straight to take the series 4-3 and stunningly upset the Presidents Trophy winners, then they would face the Maple Leafs in round 2 and would get up to a 3-0 series lead before eventually winning game 5 and beating the Leafs 4-1 in the series, which lead them to play Carolina and after 4 close games, the Panthers would come away with a victory in all 4 to sweep the Canes and make the 2nd Stanley Cup Final appearance in team history, where they would play Vegas and drop the first two before winning game 3 and then would lose the next two to fall in the Stanley Cup Final in 5 games to the Champion Knights.
Significant Offseason losses:
LW,RW A.Duclair 2-7-9 20GP (SJ)
RW P.Hornqvist 1-2-3 22GP (Retired)
C E.Staal 14-15-29 72GP (UFA)
C,LW C.Bunnaman 0-0-0 0GP (UFA)
RW,C C.White 8-7-15 68GP (PIT)
RW S.Noel 0-0-0 0GP (UFA)
LW,RW G.Smith 1-3-4 36GP (SJ)
LD M.Gildon 0-0-0 0GP (UFA)
RD R.Gudas 2-15-17 72GP (ANA)
LD M.Staal 3-12-15 82GP (PHI)
G A.Lyon 9-4-1 REC 2.89 GAA .912 SV% (DET)
Significant Offseason Additions:
RW W.Lockwood 0-1-1 13GP
C,LW,RW S.Lorentz 10-9-19 80GP
C,LW E.Rodrigues 16-23-39 69GP
C,RW A.True (AHL Numbers) 11-21-32 72GP
C,RW K.Stenlund 6-3-9 54GP
LW,C R.Asplund 2-6-8 46GP
LD/RD D.Kulikov 3-13-16 67GP
LD N.Mikkola 1-5-6 81GP
LD O.Ekman-Larsson 2-20-22 54GP
LD M.Reilly 0-1-1 10GP
G A.Stolarz 5-6-0 REC 3.73 GAA .899 SV%
Top 3 Panthers picks in the 2023 draft
2RD #31 C G.Sawchyn
4RD #31 LD A.Wikman
5RD #31 G O.Gilfford
My Preseason projected 23 man lineup
C.Verhaeghe-A.Barkov-S.Reinhart
E.Luostarinen-S.Reinhart-M.Tkachuk
E.Rodrigues-A.Lundell-G.Denisenko
R.Lomberg-N.Cousins-S.Lorentz
G.Forsling-J.Mahura
O.Ekman-Larsson-N.Mikkola
D.Kulikov-M.Benning
S.Bobrovsky
S.Knight
K.Stenlund-M.Reilly-M.Kierstad
(LTIR A.Ekblad, B.Montour)
CAP: $73.49, SPACE: $10.01
Offseason review and season preview:
Now the Panthers last year were in a battle for most of the season with teams like the Isles and Penguins for a playoff spot as they were one of the more bubble teams in the NHL and thanks to some late season help from Chicago they were able to get in, and then they fell behind the Presidents Trophy champs 3-1 in round 1 and things didn’t look good, but they rallied back winning 3 straight to upset Boston and take the series in 7, and then beat the Leafs pretty handedly in round 2 in 5 games and swept Carolina in round 3 despite each game being a 1 goal game to get to their first Stanley Cup Final since the mid 90’s, and injuries caught up with them and they fell in 5 games to the pumped up Knights in the Cup Final even though they won their first Cup Final game ever, but after getting to the Cup Final and having to deal with injuries to start the year, the Panthers went into this offseason looking if they could get some upgrades to replace the injured players, and in my eyes I think they did pretty well in the offseason.
So in Net the Panthers last year had to use three goalies and they knew that after using 3 to reach the cup final last year, they would probably need 3 again this year so that really did influence their offseason plans this year. So last year the team once again went into the season with Bobrovsky and Knight as their goalie tandem as they are still stuck with Bobrovsky’s contract and had Knight as the up and coming starter of the team but after the first few months the Panthers would lose Spencer Knight to the NHLPA players assistance program and would remain there for the rest of the year and the playoffs so they had to run with Bob and Lyon who was their 3rd stringer last year for the remainder of the year
Now Bobrovsky was streaky last year and the Panthers had Lyon go on a heater to finish the year with Bobrovsky being streaky to get into the playoffs, but after not doing well to begin the playoffs the Panthers went to Bobrovsky who fuelled the teams come back against Boston and was lights out against Carolina and Toronto prior to the cup final when they got beat by Vegas. But still thanks to both Lyon in the regular season and Bobrovsky in the playoffs the Panthers made it to the cup final last year, so they went into this offseason knowing how important it was going to be to have a 3 headed monster in Net. Now in the early part of the offseason it sounded like Knights was going to be ready to go and even though Bobrovsky lead them to the Cup Final, no teams was going to even consider taking on his contract so it seemed like they still had that solid duo, but after missing half a season they weren’t sure how good Knight would be in his return to the lineup and they let Lyon go as his contract was up so he left via free agency and went to Detroit
So the Panthers went out and brought in Anthony Stolarz from Anaheim on a 1 year deal with just one a million dollar AAV to be the teams number 3, and then just before the season started the Panthers made the decision to have Knight start in the minors so he can work his way back up to be the 1B goalie for the Panthers again, so with him still being waivers exempt the Panthers sent him down to the minors and so far they have ran with Stolarz and Bobrovsky as their two goalies to start the year and they have done a fantastic job so far this year, as both have winning records and while Bobrovsky hasn’t been as dominant as he was last year in the playoffs, he hasn’t been as streaky as last year and although Stolarz’s numbers are not great like I said earlier he does have a winning record so that offseason additions seems to be paying off for this team so far and Knight has done alright in the minors and I could see him get called up at some point this season, so the Panthers knew what they need to do this offseason to keep up with their 3 goalie system that helped them a lot last year, and I think adding Stolarz whether he winds up as the 2nd or 3rd goalie by the end of the season was a smart play and I think Florida really benefits from that and a Bobrovsky who is now giving them consistent play.
Now on the defensive side of the puck, the Panthers had some major injuries from their cup run that were going to linger into the start of the year so their goal this past offseason was to keep this teams defence playing competitive until they were able to get the other guys back from injury. Now as the Panthers were a fringe playoff team last year they didn’t do anything at the deadline even though there was some rumours surrounding them, but that team was weaker defensively last year after losing guys like Chiarot and Weegar so there bigger guys had to step up and especially in the playoffs all of their top end defensemen took their gameplay to another level when Bobrovsky started to play great, but in that playoff run to the cup final, their two best defenders in Montour who had a career season last year and Ekblad who is far and away the teams number 1 defensemen both went down with serious injuries that were going to keep them out for the first 1.5-2 Months of the season, so the Panthers knew they wouldn’t be on LTIR for the entire season so they couldn’t use that cap space but they also knew that the defence was already weak as it was ans now losing their two best defensemen for the first 15-25 games was a massive blow, so the team with the little cap space they had went out to try and get as many cheap bodies they could to replace Ekblad and Montour in the short term.
Now they didn’t lose a whole bunch of defenders in the offseason as they did lose depth D-Men in Gildon who was a more AHL defender last year, and they also lose 6th/7th defender Marc Staal who was a decent 2nd/3rd pair defensemen last year in Florida who may have been a bit higher then the Panthers would’ve liked in their lineup but did alright with the team last year, and then they also lost Gudas to free agency, now Gudas was a solid physical 2nd pair D-Men who the Panthers really liked and would’ve loved to keep, but they were never paying him the $4 Million AAV that the Ducks gave him, so they let him walk, so they lose a depth defensemen as well as Stall and Gudas to free agency on top of having a already weakened blueline due to injuries for the first 2 months, so they were a very busy team this offseason trying to bring in D-Men who could replace the players they lost and play higher in the lineup until their top 2 D-Men got back.
Now the biggest acquisition was the signing of OEL who has been a solid top 4 defender throughout his career but never fit in with Vancouver and was a huge reason why they bought him out, but Florida signs him to a. Reasonable 1 year deal and even when Montour and Ekblad get back he should be a top 4 defender, they then added Nikko Mikkola on the defensive group to a 3 year deal with a AAV I thought was a little high at $2.5, but was a solid 3rd pair defensemen last year with the Rangers and Blues and I think he is a very likely to be the teams 5th defender when they are healthy but most likely be a important 2nd pair defensemen to start the year, and then that also brought in two older defensemen on 1 year cheap deals in Kulikov and Mike Reilly who are both decent 6th/7th defensemen who I think could be solid 3rd pair defensemen to start the season, so all in all this wasn’t a bad offseason defensively for the Panthers but given what they had to replace to start the season, it made it a pretty mediocre offseason for them, and they still have Forsling who should be their best defensemen until they are healthy, as well as a couple of decent defensemen who could play 3rd pair minutes like Mahura who did really well last year and young Kierstad and even a guy who hasn’t played in the NHL in Balinskis made the team out of training camp this year, so in my eyes just purely on what they lost to what they added in the offseason, adding OEL and Mikkola outweighs losing Gudas and adding Kulikov and Reilly outweighs losing Staal and they still have some solid defenders, but going into the season I was worried it wasn’t going to be enough for that team and I thought they were going to struggle defensively which is why I had them on the outside looking in, but they have actually done alright defensively so far this year and the additions (especially OEL) have paid off and now it sounds like Montour and Ekblad are nearing a return, so I think the Panthers definitely wound up having a pretty good offseason defensively and I think this additions were just what they needed.
And on the forward group, Florida didn’t do much to their offense this offseason as the needed their cap space to improve their defence, but they were able to make a few moves that did wind up making their offense more lethal. Now last year in-season the Panthers were on the bubble of making the playoffs and although there was some speculation that the Panthers were possibly going to move one of or both of Duclair and Reinhart, they didn’t move either and it turned out to be a big win to the team as they still had the solid depth on the forward group in their playoff run and both Duclair and Reinhart were big pieces of the Panthers Cup Final run and the Panthers were probably relived they didn’t move anyone, but being up against the Cap and needing to add more bodies on the blueline with Ekblad and Montour being out in the offseason, everyone knew there was going to be change to the Panthers offensive group, and although it wasn’t as much as I originally thought, there was definitely some changes that happened.
So first if we look at some of the UFA’s this team lost in the offseason, and there wasn’t a abundance of players they lost this offseason in free agency as the Panthers lost some young players who weren’t regular NHL players in Noel and Bunnaman who I think could have been good bottom six players but apparently not with Florida, then they lost bottom six forwards Staal, White and Smith who were all 4th line/spare forwards last year and at times were really good depth contributors but Staal is a older veteran who wasn’t going to give you a 82 game contribution, and then they wanted to go in other directions so they let White and Smith go, they then also lost Patrick Hornqvist who didn’t play the second half of the season last year due to injuries and wound up retiring this offseason and although he didn’t play in the second half of the year, he was still a good 3rd line forward for them, so they lost Hornqvist, Smith, Staal, White and Noel and Bunnaman this offseason to free agency which wasn’t all too bad and then they also lost one player via trade and it was someone they were talking about moving at the deadline in Anthony Duclair, as Duclair who was entering the final year of his deal was moved to San Jose in exchange for cheaper bottom six forward Lorentz and a 5RD pick, so Duclair was a solid top 9 forward in Florida but they didn’t see resigning him and needed some cap space so as much as he was productive with them, he gets moved and the Panthers not only get a draft pick back, but also Lorentz who has bounced around the past few years but has been a fantastic bottom six forward.
So the Panthers make out pretty well in that trade, and then they didn’t add much in free agency as the Panthers didn’t have too much cap space to work with but they did add a few players, first we’re to fringe NHL players who haven’t been regular NHL players in True and Lockwood who would be good for the teams AHL affiliates and could also be decent call up options for the team, they then added Asplund and Stenlund who last year were decent 4th line/spare forwards who should be good 4th line forwards for the Panthers this year and I think could be really productive depth additions, and then there biggest addition was adding middle six forward Evan Rodrigues on a 4 year deal to replace the loss of Duclair in the lineup, as the Panthers gave the money Duclair was making to Rodrigues and would have him for 3 more seasons then Duclair was signed for and after his solid past 2 seasons, the Panthers were hoping he could be a solid 2nd or 3rd line forward for them, so all in all the Panthers forward group actually did pretty well this offseason as their bottom six changed a bit but they do look really good as they lost Hornqvist, Smith, Staal, White and they replaced them with Lockwood, Asplund, Stenlund and Lorentz and I think that bottom six may even be better then last year and they replaced Duclair with Rodrigues and so far Rodrigues has had a stellar start to the season, and they still have their big players like Verhaeghe, Tkachuk, Barkov, Bennett, and Lundell, Luostarinen also got a extension in the offseason and they wound up keeping Reinhart which at the time I thought he would’ve been moved but he has been on a heater to start the year so obviously that was the right move, and I definitely think this forward group looks well rounded, now will it be a ton better then last year, I don’t know and do they still have some decisions to make, absolutely, but I think given their right cap situation this offseason they did a really good job managing it, and I think their offense still looks good as of right now.
Now the Panthers did a lot right to have them go on a Cinderella run to the cup final, but I did give two reasons why I think they faltered in the Cup Final in my season review post, and those two things were the fact that the Panthers Special Teams was non existent in the final against Vegas and the Defence couldn’t stop the Knights high powered offense, and I think they did good this offseason to help those things as I think with the addition of OEL and Rodrigues on the power play and also possibly the penalty kill and I think some of their offseason additions are going to help their special teams, and once they get through the first rough patch without Ekblad and Montour, the additions to that defence should make it a ton better and they also dealt with injuries in the playoffs that hurt that team but I do think that they may be a bit better positioned this year to overcome injuries should they come up, so all in all I like their offseason additions and I do think it will help their problems from the cup final.
Offseason Grade C+: for the Panthers I think they made a lot of smart moves but with the little cap and the first month or two not having their best D-Men, I think they had a productive offseason but not a fantastic one, in Net I do like the addition of Stolarz as their 3rd stringer with Bobrovsky and Knight so I do think that was a solid replacement for Lyon, on Defence I think the additions of OEL, Mikkola and Kulikov will definitely be better and should help them replace the losses of Gudas and Staal, but I do think their defence as a whole is worse until Ekblad and Montour get back, and I also liked their moves up front and I think keeping Reinhart was the right move, but I am still not sure their depth is at the best possible place, so I like their additions and with what they had to work with I think they did good, but given the fact that they do have defensive issues I will only give them a C+ for this offseason.
Current Preseason 2023-24 record prediction: 43-34-5 for 91 Points, 5th in Atlantic and 9th in East, 1 less point then last year.
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