Could the Panthers go after Malkin?

 Malkin to Panthers.

In today’s blog post we are taking a look at the Florida Panthers as there has been a recent article that mentioned the possibility of the Panthers going after a big time player in the Penguins organization.

Now according to a recent report from Greg Wyshynski, he says there's still growing speculation that the Florida Panthers could be a landing spot for pending UFA and in his final year with the Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin. Now, he says that with the injury to Alex Barkov, plus Evgeni Malkin recently buying a home in Florida, he says that there's a lot of signs at this point in time saying that Malkin could very likely be dealt to Florida in the very near future. 

Nick Turchiaro Imagn Images

Now, Malkin has probably had one of the best starts to the NHL season so far as I know we're only just over a week into the NHL season, but the dude has 7 points in 5 games playing on a line with Justin Brazeau, who's had a solid start himself having 4 goals in 5 games. So, Malkin’s having some sort of a really good resurgence right now and the Penguins are 3 and 2. If the Penguins are somehow in a playoff spot or at the very least close to a postseason spot by the deadline, I don't think they're trading Malkin and Malkin also has a full no movement clause, so he really dictates where he goes,

But if Malkin wants one more shot at trying to go after a Stanley Cup and it won’t happen in the Penguins organization, could he pull a similar thing to a Brad Marchand type deal from last year where he wanted to go to Florida to chase a cup? We saw it happen last year with Brad Marchand as he really wanted to go to Florida, and the Panthers were able to win a Stanley Cup with Marchand on the roster. So could that sort of be a similar thing because if Barkov’s going to be ruled out for the season and potentially the playoffs, getting Malkin as your top line center is not a half bad idea for the Florida Panthers and I’m not sure what it would take to pry Malkin out of Pittsburgh as Malkin’s a pretty talented player, but he's also up there in age. 

So I'm not sure what the Penguins will want if they were to actually trade a guy like Evgeni Malkin as I think they would want a first round pick, top prospect, probably some sort of a young roster player as well and maybe more. So I'm not exactly sure what they want , but we shall wait and see. So very interesting to note there, but we could see the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers hook up on a deal later on in the year involving Geno Malkin. I think it's a very likely possibility and I think if the Penguins are hovering just out of a playoff spot or maybe not doing overly well by the trade deadline and Malkin really wants another chance to win a Stanley Cup, I think there's a very likely chance the Penguins will move Malkin, but once again, I think Malkin has a full movement clause. So, it's all up to Malkin if he wants to get dealt or not and we shall wait and see on that but keep an eye on Malkin especially around the deadline and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel as well.