Giroux could see himself back in Florida, but can they afford him?
George Richards of Florida Hockey Now: Florida Panthers pending UFA forward Claude Giroux when asked if he could see himself back with the Panthers next season.
”Yeah, I do,” he said. “There are a lot of things to worry about and a decision has to be made. It’s a tough question because the season ended a few days ago. It’s up to what they want to do and what I want to do. There are a lot of conversations to be had.”
There has been some speculation he could return to the Philadelphia Flyers or his hometown Ottawa Senators.
After giving up a first, third, and Owen Tippett for Giroux, would think the Flyers would want to re-sign him. The Panthers don’t have a lot of salary cap space available.
With only $4 million in projected cap space, the Panthers are going to have to find a way to move out some salary. If they want to re-sign Giroux, they need to move out a decent amount.
GM Bill Zito on their cap situation.
“We are going to attack every personnel decision the same way. We’re going to do it in due time with the same process. We’re going to do it carefully, we don’t have a lot of room for error under the cap and it is vital that we do it right so I’m not sitting in this chair a year from now under the same circumstances.”
Golden Knights are going to have some tough decisions
Jesse Granger of The Athletic: (mailbag) Vegas Golden Knights forwards Max Pacioretty, William Karlsson and Evgenii Dadonov submit a 10-team no-trade list. Defenseman Alec Martinez has a 12-team no-trade and Jonathan Marchessault‘s is 8 teams.
Would think that Dadonov will be the first player moved to help gain some salary cap space. If they are looking to trade someone to get the most assets back, Karlsson would likely be that guy, and there would be interest.
Goaltender Laurent Brossoit could also be moved with the emergence of Logan Thompson to backup Robin Lehner.
Think it would take a four-year contract offer at $4.75 million for Reilly Smith to remain a Golden Knight. He would get more on the open market.
Given their salary cap situation, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Nicolas Roy and Nicolas Hague received offer sheets.