2021 Florida Panthers off-season thread. Free Agent Frenzy July 28th

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Is Lammikko gone?
Lammikko is like the 16th best forward we have right now. There's no reason to give him a one-way contract, and there's no reason for him to accept a two-way contract when he can just go back to Finland.
We probably don't qualify him and let him test the market.
I predict he'll sign somewhere as a 12th/13th forward, and it'll be his last season in North America before spending the rest of his hockey career in Europe.
 
Anyone on the team eligible for arbitration this year?
Guys who have NHL games under their belts?
According to capfriendly...
Bennett, Wallmark, Lammikko, Juulsen, Carlsson, and Montembeault.

Wallmark is a moot point because he already signed in the KHL.
Lammikko, Juulsen and Montembeault probably won't even be qualified.
Carlsson has no leverage.
Bennett is the one of interest.

Verhaeghe is arbitration eligible next year too.
 
Unrelated, but is there any recent footage / highlights of John Ludvig from either his AHL or last WHL season? I want to see how good he is because he could be part of our lineup soon enough

Or if someone just knows some stuff about him that would be good too (playstyle, readiness, etc)
 
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That's the thing; it's just a dumb move to arbitrarily put a guy on the top line who "doesn't have to generate anything" when you could add someone skilled who could be a force multiplier to a guy like Barkov. Like I said before, the best 4th lines are able to wear down opponents throughout an entire 60 minutes to give your top line an edge. Grinders don't have to literally be on the top line necessarily to 'create space.'

We lost. When you lose you have to analyze what you've done and try something different. Just because they 'did OK' doesn't mean performance shouldn't be improved.

they were effective in the regular season and in the post season. did we lose because he was on the first line? was that more important than, oh, not having ekblad?

anyway, even TB will be analyzing and trying to improve or maintain, or adapt. so, of course. and zito's doing that and in all likelihood, the point will be moot because the lineup will be tweaked.

still, why do you think Q left on that line so often as the season went on???
 
they were effective in the regular season and in the post season. did we lose because he was on the first line? was that more important than, oh, not having ekblad?

anyway, even TB will be analyzing and trying to improve or maintain, or adapt. so, of course. and zito's doing that and in all likelihood, the point will be moot because the lineup will be tweaked.

still, why do you think Q left on that line so often as the season went on???

Personally? I think it was similar that one year when Bjuggy was put up there with Huby and Barky.

You could not really explain it...but it worked. He was the best RW that line had all year.

The next season? An utter and complete dud.

Will it be the same with Marchment? Idk. But I think he's up there as a deterrent so no one takes liberties on Barkov.
 
You realize Vatrano was playing in the playoffs, right? The ones we just got roughed up in. He was there. Every game. He created almost nothing. He doesn't play an overly physical game. He isn't a good defensive player. He shoots the puck right at the goalie most of the time. His passes aren't crips. Vatrano was a complete ghost in the playoffs. Shedding players like Vatrano is exactly what we should be doing in a flat cap world.

He was a ghost in the bubble vs the Islanders too. Provides a good spark with his hustling and clutch scoring in the regular season, but his game hasn’t translated to the higher intensity playoffs so far.
 
Lammikko is like the 16th best forward we have right now. There's no reason to give him a one-way contract, and there's no reason for him to accept a two-way contract when he can just go back to Finland.
There isn't a single reason why someone from NHL should play in Finland especially once the pandemic is over. Salaries are max 300k and taxes very high. In KHL he could earn many times that money and pay only 13 per cent tax. For example Hartikainen, who didn't make it in Oilers, is making 90 million rubles ~ $1.2m a year playing for UFA Salavat. Last year when Lammikko was briefly a player of Magnitokorsk, it was reported that his salary was supposed to be 47 millions which is $630000 and because of low taxes that would be more than what lowest one-way NHL contracts are. Therefore if the player notices that he isn't going to make it in the NHL, he can earn decent amount of money in Russia.
 
He was a ghost in the bubble vs the Islanders too. Provides a good spark with his hustling and clutch scoring in the regular season, but his game hasn’t translated to the higher intensity playoffs so far.
Franky unfortunately does not create that much by himself. He either needs someone to feed him the puck, or he needs a lot of open ice to use his speed - hardly available during the POs as we all know. It is still amazing that he remains a lock for 20 goals in the regular season without ever playing with a decent playmaking C/LW.

Plus he might be one of those guys who - when told to focus on his defensive play, like as always in the POs - his offensive instinct completely dries up or he just rather sits back to not be a liability on the ice. But again, he never plays with a very skilled supporting cast.
 
Lammikko is like the 16th best forward we have right now. There's no reason to give him a one-way contract, and there's no reason for him to accept a two-way contract when he can just go back to Finland.
We probably don't qualify him and let him test the market.
I predict he'll sign somewhere as a 12th/13th forward, and it'll be his last season in North America before spending the rest of his hockey career in Europe.
I don't think he'll ever be good enough to be a difference maker on a good team, but he could carve out a career for himself going from rebuilding team to rebuilding team, if he wants to stick around in the NHL (which is why he went back to Finland the first time, but his priorities may have changed).

Buffalo or Arizona seems likely.
 
You know a player is one-dimensional when multiple people post the same one assist to show that he isn't one-dimensional. He chipped the puck to Lomberg once, amazing.
Arguably the team's biggest assist of the year.
At least I'm not stating that all he does is score empty-net goals and is poor defensively. Maybe I showed the post to show that he started in the defensive Zone in overtime of a playoff game? You don't know.

Cutting up Frankie, now that's a weird hill to die on!
 
You know a player is one-dimensional when multiple people post the same one assist to show that he isn't one-dimensional. He chipped the puck to Lomberg once, amazing.

It’s weird to see the Frankie V hate because I thought he was one of our most liked players.

Saw the Cats play for game 3 vs Tampa and Vatrano was one of the best players on the ice all game. I feel like sometimes it doesn’t translate well to TV. But I think he plays his role very well for the money.
 
That's where we are headed not overpaying marginal impact players.

Vatrano isn't overpaid or marginal with 20-25 goals per season. If Vatrano gets dealt then it's more about getting a player with a different skill set for the bottom6. Bottom6ers and pairing dmen are by definition marginal impact players so these transactions address team composition.
 
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I like Vatrano just as much as the next guy, but he was largely a non factor outside of that lucky chip pass. Probably one of the luckier plays I’ve seen in a while.

This team has shown over the years, through various management teams, that productive, capable wingers can be found fairly easily. I especially trust this new front office to find one or more to replace Vatrano assuming we lose him somehow. They found Verhaeghe and Duclair in a single off-season, also got Hornqvist. It can be done
 
I like frank but he is replaceable. Many games he was a complete non-factor/no-show.

Very very different than the March + Smith situation.

We need to make room for our young guys to prove it as well. Denisenko, Tippet, Lundell. That's where we are headed not overpaying marginal impact players.
This is exactly how I feel about Vatrano.

It's not "hate" or "cutting him up." It's just stating what I see as fact. The guy is often a ghost and is going to get a raise soon.

Our former GM would have seen this as an opportunity to pay up before the time came, blocking a younger player. Our new GM will get someone better or let a young guy step into a role.
 
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between hepo/ deni/ someone else we can replace vatrano.. I would sign lammiko if he could be had cheap. he is a pain to play against and already familiar with our system. we need to ensure we are difficult to play against
 
And then we’re in cap-hell next year with Yandle’s buyout and Barkov’s new deal… ;)
Not necessarily.

Assume a combined 20 million between Eichel and Barkov. That would put the Panthers at 67 million in cap used. Leaving roughly 13.8 million to fill the rest of the roster.



They'd need to sign 2 d-men
and 6 forwards. (or if you jettison Hornqvist, it creates another 5.5 million in space)

It wouldn't be easy, but it is absolutely doable. Clearing Hornqvist's deal would be an absolute must though.
 
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