Difficult season comes to an end in Florida

It was locker clean-out day at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, and while everyone was disappointed not to be participating in the EHE play-offs the feeling around the organization is that brighter days are ahead.

As previously mentioned, the Panthers played an unprecedented 25 games that went in to over-time and shootouts with Florida losing 17 of them, and head coach Jack Capuano wondered, “Did all the extra minutes wear our guys down? It's possible, but you have to take advantage of your opportunities and we failed to do that.”

Mark Stone and Clayton Keller both got off to slow starts, but caught fire in the second half of the season finishing with 72 and 60 points respectively.

The Panthers reportedly requested a special waiver for Alexander Nylander to make his EHE debut in the final two games of the season – both against non-play-off teams, but the club did not receive approval.

So what is the next step for the Cats?

“We await the results of the draft lottery on May 25,” said General Manager Jeff Kuntz, whose team has the sixth best odds of winning. Kuntz had previously stated that if their team won first place in the lottery that he would use the pick to draft a top player, otherwise the pick will be shopped around the league.

“Not to knock on the guys in our room, but we need one more top forward. We have Holtby and we have Rielly, Lindholm, Lindell and Hanifin as our Top-4 blue-liners, and I'd put that group up against any in the EHE. But I've made it no secret that I feel we do need one more high-end forward and we have the assets to get our guy.”

“I'm not focusing too much on the 2019 draft as a way to add talent to our organization. By acquiring Nylander (via trade for highly-touted defenseman Filip Hronek) we've set it up so that we already have the next wave of prospects at every skating position, and Holtby is only 29 so we have a few years before we need to worry about finding a replacement for him. We're going to use our best 2019 picks to improve our team for 2019-20, and that may mean acquiring 2020 picks to use after the UFA period or mid-season.”

That statement should squash any speculation – and hope – that the Panthers are eyeing potential franchise goalie Spencer Knight with their first round pick. But Kuntz did add, “I do envision us drafting a goalie with our picks outside of the first round. It all depends who's available at what point in the draft, but I want us to take a goalie at some point. So yeah our goalie coaches and our scouts have been put on notice to do their homework.”

And after the draft?

“Well then we wait to see what happens with [Mark] Stone,” said Kuntz.

Stone is a restricted free agent, and the team elected not to place a franchise tag on him to protect him from a potential offer-sheet.

Kuntz stated: “Oh yeah, we've been warned by a few people. We've been directly told we should expect a poison-pill contract for Stone. And I took the probably unusual step of letting the whole hockey world know that it might be the other team swallowing the poison pill. Not us.”

Will the Panthers be eyeing an offer-sheet of their own? “Not likely,” said the team boss.

Kuntz then explained that the Stone situation is one of the keys to the remainder of the off-season for Florida. According to the GM, until the Stone matter is resolved and the 2019-20 Panthers squad and free agents are rated the team is in limbo in terms of developing a strategy for signing unrestricted free agents. “There's a couple guys out there for sure, and we'll be way more aggressive signing unrestricted guys if Mark leaves. But I can't really decide what our strategy in the free agent signing periods will be right now because I just don't have all the information I need.”

So to recap, the Panthers will look to either trade future-based assets for a top forward or collect 2020 draft picks with that same goal in mind. Secondly, the team is taking a wait-and-see approach to what happens with RFA Mark Stone, and that combined with re-rates will dictate the RFA offer-sheets and UFA signings made by Florida, but Kuntz does not expect to offer-sheet anyone.

Lastly, the Florida Panthers organization would like to wish all 16 teams competing for the Cup the best of luck, and to thank Commissioner Kevin Lacy and the rest of the EHE board for their contributions to running the league. Their efforts is what makes all this possible, and their dedication and commitment to providing all 31 GMs with an elite hockey experience is genuinely appreciated.