The Florida Panthers are unlikely to make the playoffs as the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Injuries have been a big reason why, with Aleksander Barkov missing the entire season and Matthew Tkachuk missing the first half of the year. The Panthers now have a question to answer in goal, as Sergei Bobrovsky needs a new contract. Elliotte Friedman has the latest on the negotiations between the goalie and the team.
“I don’t know where it’s going to go with Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida. But there is word that the contract Brad Marchand signed (six years, $5.25 million AAV) was, at one point, used as some kind of a comparable. Marchand signed that at age 37. Bobrovsky is 37. Panthers were not willing to do it. Not sure where it stands now,” Friedman reported.
Marchand took a longer deal with the Panthers, one that pays him well into his 40s, to lower his annual pay day. That deal helped Florida keep Sam Bennett after he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. But now, the Panthers are not willing to do that for their goalie, which raises a lot of questions.
At last year's trade deadline, the Panthers traded for Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks. Part of the return package was Spencer Knight, who has been great as the starting goalie in Chicago. Florida took Knight in the first round of the 2019 Draft and used him as a trade chip to land Jones. But now, the Panthers do not have Bobrovsky's heir apparent on the roster.
If the Panthers were absolutely done with Bobrovsky, they could have traded him at the NHL trade deadline. They kept him, which means a contract agreement could be coming. If the Panthers do let him walk in free agency, there will be a lot of questions this offseason.
