Blue Jackets and Panthers are interested in each other’s pending UFAs
Mike Johnston of Sportsnet: Nick Kypreos said last night that the sense is that the Florida Panthers will trade forward Derick Brassard before the trade deadline on February 25th.
Kypreos adds that the Columbus Blue Jackets could be one of the teams interested in Brassard.
There is also the speculation out there that the Panthers are interested in Blue Jackets Artemi Panarin.
Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1200 said that after the Florida Panthers-Pittsburgh Penguins trade, the Panthers created an extra $4 million in salary cap space for next season.
The Panthers are unlikely to make the playoffs, so they will likely look to flip Brassard and Sheahan for draft picks or prospects.
“We think the reason they want to clear the financial decks a little bit is because Florida would be interested in both Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky in unrestricted free agency. And in fact, they may try to use Brassard and some of the other things they’ve got in their cupboard to see if possibly they could entice Columbus to part with Panarin before the deadline, and maybe Florida can get a leg up on trying to sell Artemi Panarin on signing long term with the Panthers.”
Stars continue to look for scoring
Sean Shapiro of The Athletic: Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill isn’t sure if the trade deadline is going to be a buyers or sellers market, or what could be available. Nill adds he thinks there is a high value on draft picks.
Nill on what they are looking for.
“It’s no secret, and it’s throughout the league, we all want more scoring. And a little bit is the league; it’s hard to score, so you want to add more. You always want to add more skill, so do we want to add more scoring? Yes, we do. There are also 24 other teams in the league that want to add. Are those guys going to be available? I don’t know, and what’s the price.”