Florida Panthers Make Minor Deadline Deal With the Chicago Blackhawks:
The Florida Panthers and the Chicago Blackhawks have made a trade involving 5 total players, most notably veteran forward Brett Connolly going from Florida to Chicago. The total trade details are as follows:
FLA Receives:
- Lucas Wallmark, 25, Center (who played 7 games with Florida last year after being acquired in the Vincent Trocheck trade with Carolina)
- Lucas Carlsson, 23, D
CHI Receives:
- Brett Connolly, 28, RW/LW
- Riley Stillman, 23, D
- Henrik Borgstrom, 23, C (NHL Rights)
- 7th round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft
The move appears to be a cap space saving move on the Panthers’ part, as Brett Connolly carries a cap hit of $3.5 million for this season as well as the next two seasons. The Panthers had to sweeten the deal with Riley Stillman, who is a reliable bottom-pairing defenseman who is still young with great room for improvement. The move is going to give Florida some needed cap space to work with before Monday’s NHL trade deadline. Florida will most likely be looking to trade for a defenseman that can fill in as much as possible due to the loss of Aaron Ekblad for the remainder of the season. The one player target that has seemed to make the most sense for all parties involved is Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard, who is only under contract for the rest of this season. Don’t count out Florida looking to target some offensive players as well, as Florida could always use some more offensive weapons to play alongside Barkov and Huberdeau.
Florida GM Bill Zito has had some difficult decisions to make in his first season at the helm, and so far the majority of them have paid off. It will be very interesting to see how this Florida Panthers roster is shaped up once the NHL Trade Deadline is over. Keep an eye out for the next episode of our Podcast, The CatsNStats Podcast, which should come out Monday night following the trade deadline. Follow CatsNStats on Twitter to stay up to date!
