Panthers sign Rowney, acquire Carter from Chicago

An unexpected overture from the Chicago Blackhawks has drastically altered the Florida Panther's off-season plan.

Cap-strapped in the Windy City, Blackhawks GM Thomas Gidlow and Florida GM Jeff Kuntz struck a mutually beneficial trade in which forward Jeff Carter was dealt to the Panthers in exchange for a fourth round pick and a fourth-for-fifth round pick swap in the Hawks' favor. All picks involved are for the 2020 draft.

Chicago likely needed to move on from Carter's contract more-so than the player, explaining the seemingly low return from Florida.

"Carter was brought over as a useful top 6 C, we felt. But having [Joe] Thornton re-sign with us put us into a bit of a cap crunch, so we felt his was the salary to move. I am sure he will do well in Florida and we wish him nothing but the best," Gidlow said.

Kuntz, who is unpopular with league officials at the moment, also spoke of the trade: “A fourth rounder for a guy who's going to play on our second line is a pretty easy decision to make. It's an instant upgrade for a reasonable amount of draft capital. Jeff [Carter] has reached the point in his career where his contract is in line with what he would receive if he were an unrestricted free agent, so I'm comfortable paying that out. He's earned it. Not that I'm an expert with the situation in Chicago, however I think Thomas has done a great job repositioning his team for the upcoming season after going all-in last year.”

But the arrival of Carter may have spelled the end of Victor Rask's career with the Florida Panthers.

“I'm not sure I agree with that premise, but I can't say I completely disagree either,” said Kuntz, who continued, “We're watching Victor closely as he prepares for the upcoming EHE season in Minnesota. How he looks in Minny will likely dictate the direction we take with him. This will be a make-or-break couple of weeks for him in terms of his future with this organization.”

A buy-out of the final year of Rask's contract would cost the team $1,980,000 of the $3,300,000 owed to the player in 2019-20. So essentially Florida's GM must decide if it's worth $1,320,000 to hang on to Rask's rights for next season.

If Rask remains part of the Panthers' organization this year, he's destined for Fort Myers to play out the season for the AHL's Florida Everblades. Rask would need to clear waivers in order to be demoted.

In addition to acquiring Jeff Carter in a trade, Florida signed unrestricted free agent Carter Rowney to a 1-year deal worth $3,200,000 – of which $2,250,000 will count against the Panthers' salary cap this season.

“The first ever UFA offer I've issued as a GM in this league was for Carter Rowney. And I'll admit, the initial offer was probably for about half of what we ended up signing him for,” said Kuntz.

Kuntz added, “But we needed a defensive forward who could play on Cizikas' wing, and who could take a spot away from one of our top-6 forwards on PK2 to help manage everybody's ice-time.”

Rowney was expensive, but at least one other team was also bidding on Rowney's services which drove up the price for Florida.

Despite the fact the Panthers remain comfortably under the salary cap, rumors have begun swirling that goaltender Scott Darling will be bought out. When asked about that possibility Kuntz all but seemed to confirm it.

“When we made that deal [with the Ottawa Senators], it was specifically structured so that the Sens would pay Scott's salary in 2019-20. So if we were to buy him out we'd technically make money. And we're looking in to that,” said Kuntz.

Florida has goaltender Josef Korenar under contract, who many observers feel could slot in to the back-up role in Darling's place if need be and at less than half the cost.

But Kuntz was non-committal.

“Josef could, I guess, back-up [Braden] Holtby this year. But he could also benefit from spending this season with the Everblades. So we'll see,” Kuntz stated.

So as of now, Jeff Carter and Carter Rowney are in – while Victor Rask and Scott Darling are apparently out.

With these two additions at forward the Panthers' seem set up front, but the team needs to decide who their back-up goalie will be this season, and it might not hurt to acquire in a second pair defenseman to bolster the blue-line.

“There's a few names that have been floated on the league forum, so maybe something can be worked out in a trade deal with one of our division rivals,” Kuntz teased.

Florida is set to begin their sixth season as a member club in the Elite Hockey Experience. Last season was the team's worst in franchise history.