Just three nights ago, the Florida Panthers watched from across the ice as the Vegas Golden Knights celebrated. In a series where one of the two teams stood guaranteed to win their first Stanley Cup, the Panthers fell. But in this sport, time waits for no one to grieve. And just a few short days later, Florida already finds itself swirling in trade rumours. It may be the offseason, but plenty of big dates sit on the near horizon. In this issue of NHL rumours, we dig into the Panthers and Sabres, and Brett Pesce and Erik Karlsson.
NHL Rumours: Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres
Ahead of 2023-24, both the Panthers and Buffalo Sabres want to build on how their 2022-23 campaigns ended. For Buffalo, they played meaningful games right up to the very end, but ultimately fell short of the playoffs. For Florida, things steadily improved as the year went on, so much so that improvement in the next season could only mean a Cup championship.
Obviously, the teams sit in different spots with different goals next season. But in either case, growth likely begins with improvement on their blueline. Unsurprisingly then, both squads sit squarely in the centre of NHL rumours regarding quality NHL defencemen.
Florida Panthers and Erik Karlsson
After four seasons of steadily declining performance with the San Jose Sharks, Erik Karlsson experienced an enormous career resurgence in 2022-23. At 32 when the year began, everyone saw him as “past his prime”. Then, he put up a career-high 101 points and led the league in scoring amongst defencemen.
The Panthers stand as a team in need of help on their blueline. While Karlsson doesn’t offer the strong type of defensive play many others do, the offensive upside more than makes up for it. Jeff Marek noted the same sentiment on the 32 Thoughts podcast this week, a platform that always pushes NHL rumours into a whole new level.
Marek: “We’ve talked at various times this season about somehow, someway by at some point this summer don’t be surprised if someone like Erik Karlsson ends up a member of the Florida Panthers”
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) June 16, 2023
Facilitating a Panthers – Karlsson Deal – NHL Rumours
The feasibility of the trade remains the most difficult obstacle to overcome, ultimately. Though they have money coming off their books, they have just over $10 million in cap space for the year ahead. Karlsson carries a massive $11.5 million cap hit, for the next four seasons to boot. Florida needs to send money back, or convince San Jose to retain salary, just to execute the move. That means an extremely significant return, one such that might just kill the deal from ever getting off the ground.
Maybe, just maybe, Sergei Bobrovsky is the missing link here. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner just put the Panthers on his back and nearly won them a Cup. His performance turned heads all over, sparking NHL rumours that he regained his form and was finally worth his $10 million cap hit.
The barrier, though, likely sits in Bob’s no-trade clause. Otherwise, a decent argument could be made in favour of exchanging a pair of highly-paid players who just performed better-than-ever, after multiple years of disappointment. Karlsson did so over a longer period of time, plus goaltending always changes year-over-year. So, Florida probably needs to throw in more to facilitate the deal. Either way, an extremely intriguing NHL rumour. Just imagine adding a 100-point defenceman to the Panthers…
Buffalo Sabres Interested In Brett Pesce
While the Panthers go after the highest-scoring defenceman last season, Buffalo looks for a more balanced blueliner. This NHL rumours segment has less star-power than the first, but far more practicality.
Brett Pesce enters the final year of his contract next season, with a $4.025 million cap hit. The Sabres have plenty of cap space to add that, especially considering they already have 21 players signed for next season. Their near-$17 million in space could go to any position to upgrade upon their roster from last year. Pesce played at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program during Don Granato’s coaching tenure there as well, so familiarity exists between the parties.
Pierre LeBrun reports that the Sabres expressed interest in Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce.
Pesce has one year left on his contract. He was at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program while Don Granato coached there. https://t.co/AfkI2zCynT
— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) June 16, 2023
And an upgrade for this team takes the expectations up, meaning a playoff spot or bust. Whether they push all-in to get that remains to be seen, but Pesce certainly slots nicely with their group. They have a whopping six other blueliners on expiring contracts following this next year, too. So, adding Pesce gives them lots of options, and they can slowly offer extensions as the year goes on to the specific defencemen in that expiring group that they want to retain.
Main Photo: © Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
