Welcome to all as we embark on another (slightly) shortened summer of free agent signings. Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito doesn’t have much in the way of cap space to work with this offseason, so he’ll have be very crafty to fill out the rest of the club’s roster for the 2022-23 season.
Zito will most likely have to work a trade or two to open the cap space needed to keep the likes of a Claude Giroux, Mason Marchment or Ben Chiarot while gathering enough bodies to ice a 22 or 23-man lineup.
If you’ve been with us for any of our past “Free Agent Frenzy” threads you’ll be familiar with the surroundings: post your own thoughts, reactions, any rumors that catch your eye (please source them), favorite breakfast or lunch spot, what have you. Whether it’s about the NHL in general or the Panthers in particular, feel free to share it.
The free agent fireworks begin at 12 p.m. ET, so keep your seeing orbs glued to the interweb so you don’t miss anything.
– SI/The Hockey News Top 30 Unrestricted Free Agents
– Florida’s salary/roster situation courtesy of CapFriendly
– Panthers’ current unrestricted free agents:
- Claude Giroux
- Ben Chiarot
- Mason Marchment
- Noel Acciari
- Maxim Mamin
- Joe Thornton
- Markus Nutivaara
- Chase Priskie
- Robert Hagg
- Petteri Lindbohm
- German Rubtsov
- Joan Johansson
- Christopher Gibson
- Evan Fitzpatrick/
Usual Twitter Suspects:
- Frank Seravelli (DailyFaceoff)
- Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet)
- Pierre LeBrun (TSN)
- Jameson Olive (Panthers)
- George Richards (Florida Hockey Now)
- David Dwork (WPLG)
- SBNation NHL
- Panthers Official/