Offseason checklist for the Florida Panthers

Montour’s case is going to be a particularly fascinating one to follow. For years, he had shown promise at times but hadn’t been able to consistently produce and as a result, he remained in more of a limited role. This past season, that all changed. 

Montour’s production exploded, going from a decent 37 points a year ago to a whopping 73. He barely cracked the top 40 for scoring by a defenseman in 2021-22 and was fifth in 2022-23. 

He’s on a bargain contract at $3.5M and if they want to extend him now, it might take twice as much if not more to lock up the 29-year-old. The shoulder injury could give Zito some pause but it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to get something done this summer.

As for Forsling, he has certainly been one of the best waiver claims in recent memory, going from a Carolina castaway to a 23-minute per-game defender. The 27-year-old had a breakout year in 2021-22 and put up very similar numbers this past season, showing that it wasn’t just a fluke. 

He is now logging heavy minutes shorthanded, making him an all-around defender. With his age and recent production, he, too, could more than double his current AAV of just under $2.7M.

Up front, Reinhart’s second bridge contract has worked out well for both sides.  He has taken his production to a new level in Florida, even after taking a bit of a step back this season. The 27-year-old has also shown that he can play down the middle which makes him much more valuable around the league with top-six centers being difficult to come by. 

His current AAV is $6.5M and it would likely take at least a couple million more than that (putting him a little below Matthew Tkachuk on the salary scale) to get him to commit to an early extension.

Then there’s Duclair. The 27-year-old missed most of this past season as he worked his way back from a torn Achilles’ tendon and, unsurprisingly, he was a bit quiet when he returned before putting together a decent playoff showing with 11 points in 20 games. He’s only a year removed from a breakout 31-goal campaign which should factor into negotiations as well. 

Duclair intends to represent himself again in those discussions and with the long layoff, it’s reasonable to think they might agree to defer talks until later in the season to see how he fares after a full summer of recovery.

Not all of these players are going to sign extensions over the summer but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Zito get one or two of these locked up over the coming months.

Get help for the penalty kill

The Panthers were one of the top teams at five-on-five this past season which is typically a good sign of how strong a team is. However, the fact that they barely picked up the final Wild Card spot is in large part due to the fact that their penalty kill struggled considerably with a success rate of just under 76%, a few points below the league average. 

In the playoffs, that number dipped even further to just 70.4%. That’s an area that could certainly stand to be improved.

If Florida goes and gets an impact defenseman, that should help but adding some defensive acumen to their final couple of forwards would also help. 

Eric Staal (a pending UFA) logged heavy minutes on the penalty kill this past season, a role he hadn’t typically played in his prime. Eetu Luostarinen isn’t a premier defensive forward either; those two led all Florida forwards in shorthanded ATOI. 

Filling out the depth chart with some shutdown options might take away a bit offensively but if it helps them kill enough penalties to balance out, it’ll be worth doing.

Depth decisions

Alex Lyon more than served his purpose as a capable third-string goaltender who stepped in when Spencer Knight departed for the Player Assistance Program and even took over as the starter with Sergei Bobrovsky struggling at the time. 

He may have done well enough to get a shot as a backup somewhere so this is a spot that will need to be filled. A veteran depth goalie isn’t usually an important offseason add but with Bobrovsky’s inconsistency and Knight’s relative inexperience, determining and landing the top option on that market takes a higher level of importance.

Meanwhile, a decision needs to be made soon on the fate of center Colin White. The 26-year-old had an okay year in a very limited role but still provided some value on a contract that was just $100K above the league minimum after being bought out by Ottawa. 

Still not old enough to reach unrestricted free agency, Florida could tender him a qualifying offer to keep his rights. However, doing so would give him arbitration eligibility and bring his previous production (including a 41-point year in 2018-19) into the picture. 

That’s not ideal for the Panthers so they need to decide if they want to try to re-sign him before Friday’s tender deadline or if they want to cut bait and perhaps add a more defensive-oriented depth player into the mix.

These are two roles that can be filled quickly in free agency within the first couple of hours so Zito will need to have his plan in place to make sure he lands his targets (or gets White on another bargain contract).