The Florida Panthers have been a steamroller, eliminating Tampa Bay, Boston, and New York to reach their second straight Stanley Cup Final.
GM Bill Zito has to be working behind the scenes since the Panthers have 11 unrestricted free agents, including leading scorer Sam Reinhart and defenseman Brandon Montour.
There has been some chatter that there are clubs inquiring on goalie Spencer Knight, who spent all of last season in the AHL, but makes $4.5 million but is waiver exempt. There are other rumors that Zito will move 2014 top overall pick Aaron Ekblad and his $7.5 million cap hit after the season to clear cap space to re-sign Montour.
This would be a gut-wrenching move for the Panthers similar to Tampa trading Ryan McDonagh after the 2022 Cup Final. Ekblad has had a history of injury issues, but is only 28 and there would be many teams in desperate need of a veteran RHD interested.
stay tuned.....