The Florida Panthers have needed to wait longer than anticipated to seek out out who they’ll meet on this yr’s Stanley Cup Final. After sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes to come back out of the East, Florida has gotten to sit down again and watch the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars battle — with the Stars ripping off two straight to pressure Mondy’s Game 6.
The Panthers’ break was well-earned. And it doubtless wouldn’t have been attainable with out a daring, franchise-changing commerce made months earlier within the offseason.
Florida’s acquisition of winger Matthew Tkachuk was the form of blockbuster commerce that has been uncommon within the NHL — a league that typically doesn’t see the dynamic participant motion that has turn out to be commonplace in rivals just like the NBA. To land Tkachuk, a 25-year-old star with dazzling skating abilities, the Panthers despatched star winger Jonathan Huberdeau, high defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwidt and a 2025 first-rounder to the Calgary Flames.
The package deal was undoubtedly so much to surrender. But because the Panthers wait to play for the Stanley Cup, it’s price questioning if different NHL groups will now attempt to emulate Florida’s path to competition by being extra aggressive of their efforts to land top-tier expertise.
Is there a lesson, for example, to be realized for a crew just like the Washington Capitals — who haven’t superior previous the primary spherical since successful all of it in 2018 and want to retool this summer season after lacking the playoffs this previous season?
“We’ll look at some things for sure,” Capitals basic supervisor Brian MacLellan mentioned final month when requested if the Capitals are prepared to shake up their core. “Sometimes making change just to make a change is not right, but we’re going to look for opportunities. Opportunities present themselves in free agency and the trade market as we go towards the draft.”
MacLellan has a tough activity forward of him. This offseason, the Capitals will try to capitalize on their veterans’ remaining years, whereas additionally looking for to get youthful. That’s a tightrope, and MacLellan admitted he couldn’t consider one other crew off the highest of his head that has efficiently supplied a blueprint for the Capitals.
But the Panthers’ overhaul arguably reveals that it may be price swinging for the fences. After all, buying Tkachuk wasn’t a transfer that Florida needed to make. This was a bunch coming off a season wherein they held the league’s greatest document in 2021-22. Huberdeau, with a career-high 115 factors, even completed fifth in MVP voting.
Still, the Panthers dissatisfied in final yr’s playoffs. After beating the Capitals in six video games, Florida was swept within the second spherical by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The postseason exit performed a consider not solely the Tkachuk commerce, but additionally in Florida’s resolution to rent coach Paul Maurice over interim Andrew Brunette. Maurice’s arrival is one more reason why the Panthers have superior so far as they’ve.
The Panthers wouldn’t be within the finals with out Tkachuk. The 24-year-old has constructed on his 40-goal, 109-point common season. He’s shined within the postseason with 9 objectives and 12 assists in 16 video games.
Players of Tkachuk’s caliber, in fact, not often turn out to be accessible. The most important cause the Panthers had been in place to commerce for Tkachuk is that he informed Calgary that he wouldn’t signal a brand new cope with the Flames and needed out — which led the franchsie to discover the marketplace for the then-restricted free agent. It was solely till Tkachuk received dealt that he signed a brand new eight-year, $76 million contract.
That mentioned, the Panthers nonetheless needed to be prepared to take a threat to get a deal executed. The commerce, too, nearly didn’t repay in Year 1. As spectacular as Florida has been this postseason, the Panthers narrowly made the postseason as they clinched the East’s final wild card spot partly due to the Pittsburgh Penguins shedding.
But the Panthers received in. And they’ve been a powerhouse within the postseason, overcoming a 3-1 deficit to knock off the top-seeded Boston Bruins, dominate the Toronto Maple Leafs and sweep the Hurricanes.
Who wouldn’t wish to try to copy that?
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com