The Panthers and Avs can’t go out and replace Aaron Ekblad and Gabriel Landeskog
TSN: Pierre LeBrun said that Florida Panthers can’t go out and find a replacement for Aaron Ekblad.
“The reality is Ekblad will be back this season. There’s no firm timeline yet, but we’re talking anywhere from four to six to seven weeks, we believe. is going to be back. He’s not out until the playoffs. They can’t replace his money because they need room for him when he’s back.”
The Colorado Avalanche are in a similar situation as the Panthers are, as they can’t go out and replace Gabriel Landeskog. Both teams don’t have the salary cap space. The Avalanche feel that if they don’t have to make a move now, they’ll have more cap space available later in the season to add a forward.
The Panthers can’t replace Ekblad
Daily Faceoff: The Florida Panthers could be without defenseman Aaron Ekblad for a couple of months. Mike McKenna asks Frank Seravalli if the Panthers will be able to bring in some help while Ekblad is out?
“Well, I think there’s no question that the Florida Panthers are looking around, but only for temporary stop gaps that are affordable. Are there some younger players out there that could potentially slide into our lineup for the foreseeable future that we would be able to keep once Ekblad is back? There are not many of them out there.
One of the names we had spoken about previously was P.O. Joseph of the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that is certainly in a spot where they have a lot of defensemen and I know there were a number of teams that made offers on P.O. Joseph. But the Penguins weren’t willing or ready to move on.”
Seravalli adds that with Ekblad coming back during the season, they’d have to clear the cap space when he returns. It’s unlikely they’d give the assets to bring a bigger name like Jakob Chychrun and then have to clear cap space later. They’ll likely use from within for now.