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Figuring Out the Panthers New Look Defense

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With defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour expected to miss the early part of next season with injuries sustained in the playoffs; GM Bill Zito had to do some work this offseason to address the holes they would be leaving in the lineup. With the departures of Radko Gudas and Marc Staal it was expected that the Panthers would target defense, but I didn't expect them to sign the amount of defenseman they did. The Panthers brought in four defenseman, all left-handed, with the additions of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola, Mike Reilly, and Dmitry Kulikov. They also resigned Lucas Carlsson who was one of the best defenseman in the AHL last season.  The first signing of the free agency period for the Panthers was veteran offensive defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. OEL was once one of the premier offensive defenseman in the game but age and lower-body injuries have really slowed him down. OEL became a free agent after being bought out of his 8 year $66m dollar contract that kicked ...
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Analyzing the Panthers New Forward Group

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Intro After the signing of Evan Rodrigues, unless something crazy happens, the Panthers seemingly have the forwards that they plan to start the season with. The Panthers brought in Steven Lorentz in a trade that sent Anthony Duclair to the Shark and signed Kevin Stenlund in addition to Rodrigues. They also resigned 2018 first round pick Grigori Denisenko to a one-way deal. So the group was not totally overhauled but there are definitely some note worthy changes.  Projected Lineup Verhaeghe - Barkov - Reinhart Rodrigues - Bennett - Tkachuk Luostarinen - Lundell - Lorentz Cousins - Stenlund - Lomberg Denisenko Analysis With more available cap space this offseason the Panthers were able to build a much stronger forward group from top to bottom. Last seasons cap restraints made Paul Maurice really have to get creative to create three competitive lines, especially while Duclair was out. Without Duclair the Panthers only really had five forwards capable of playing in the top six, ev...
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Florida Panthers Free Agency Day One

Recap With around 10 million dollars to spend and some holes to fill we knew the Panthers would have a much more active start to free agency than they did last year. The day started with the announcement that Oliver Ekman-Larsson would be signing a one-year deal with the Panthers worth 2.25m. Bill Zito stayed busy throughout the day and brought in three more left-handed defenseman along with OEL. Mike Reilly and former Panther Dmitry Kulikov both signed one-year one million dollar deals and the most lucrative deal was signed by Niko Mikkola for three years with an AAV of 2.5m. A new fourth line center was brought in as the Panthers signed Kevin Stenlund to a one-year deal worth a million dollars. The Panthers also brought back a left-handed defenseman, Lucas Carlsson resigned for two years on a two way contract. In the midst of all the additions to the defense Grigori Denisenko resigned for two years at .775m AAV as well as brought in veteran backup goalie Anthony Stolarz for one y...
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