Panthers failed to trade Sergei Bobrovsky ahead of postseason!

Will they move him this summer?

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HockeyFeed
Published 1 year ago
Panthers failed to trade Sergei Bobrovsky ahead of postseason!
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The Florida Panthers got swept 4-0 by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Now the team must keep the broom out to make some room on its cap space…

The cap situation in Florida isn’t simple: captain Aleksander Barkov’s new deal kicks in next season ($10M AAV) as well as Carter Verhaeghe, who jumps from $1M to $4.16M next season. Jonathan Huberdeau is entering the last year of his deal next season and will get a nice raise from $5.9M AAV. He became the first Panthers player with a 100-point season.
That’s a lot of money when you have goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s cap hit of $10 million on top of it all..

This prompted insider Elliotte Friedman to revisit chatter he heard earlier this season on the 32 Thoughts podcast on Sportsnet, speculating that the Panthers attempted to trade Bobrovsky and his hefty contract prior to the postseason.

“I suspect they tried hard to trade him this year or at least lay the ground work to do it. I don’t know if it’s possible but I’ve heard they really worked on it, like they really tried to see if it’s possible.”

There is a sense that the Panthers will look to find a trade partner for the goalie. After all, Spencer Knight remains Florida’s goalie of the future. And with tight money and extensions to come fast, Bobrovsky could be the one to move.

He put up stellar numbers in the regular season: 39-7-3 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average. His save (.911) and goals-against numbers (2.70) were basically the same in the playoffs.

Bob could be interesting for rival teams out there with a budget and a desire for an upgrade in between the pipes.

Source: Sportsnet