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Friday Offseason Caterwaul: Florida Panthers Open Forum

Today the semifinal games will be played at the 2022 World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. Three Florida Panthers prospects, Kasper Puutio (Finland), Jakub Kos (Czechia), and Ludvig Jansson (Sweden) will be taking part,

The afternoon game (4 p.m. NHL Network) pits undefeated host Canada against Kos and the rest of Team Czechia, who advanced with a well-played upset win over the United States on Wednesday.

Puutio and Finland will take on arch-rival Sweden in the night game (8 p.m. NHL Network). Hopefully Jansson, who didn’t have a quality outing in the Swedes 2-1 quarterfinal win over Latvia will be in the lineup.

My prediction is Puutio will be the only Cat to advance to the gold medal game and we’ll see a Finland – Canada final.

The big news in the NHL yesterday was the Calgary Flames signing unrestricted free agent  Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $49 million deal. Kadri had been rumored to be going to Long Island, so the news has sting New York Islanders fans, who have endured a tough offseason.

To make room for Kadri’s hefty new contract, the Flames traded Sean Monahan and a conditional first round draft pick (originally the Panthers pick) in 2025 to the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations.

Stop by our sister sites Matchsticks and Gasoline and Eyes On The Prize for more on the moves.

Talking Points