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Bobrovsky may end up the NHL's first $10 million backup goalie |
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When a new NHL general manager is introduced, what you never see is that one arm is usually tied behind his back.
Since the salary cap was introduced in 2005, it has become increasingly more challenging to turn around a team in a timely fashion. Bad contracts, long contracts and expensive contracts are now next-to-impossible to move. Culture is hard to change. Nothing happens overnight.
That’s why I’m still marveling at the job first-year general manager Bill Zito did in transforming the Florida Panthers into the fierce, competitive group they were this season.
They couldn’t beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the playoffs, but I guarantee you that the defending Stanley Cup champions respect the Panthers for how hard they tried.
Zito changed over half of his roster and ended up with an attacking team that was two parts dire wolf and one part Tasmanian Devil.
This was an entertaining team to watch and a pain in the backside to play against.
While managing his team to the NHL’s fourth-best regular-season record, Zito also took a step for the future by acquiring Sam Bennett from the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick, and prospect Emil Heineman.
Maybe Heineman will turn out to be a difference-maker, but for now this deal looks like a significant win for Zito.
Bennett, 24, is feisty, spunky and is providing more offense than he did in Calgary. He looks like he will be a more significant player in Florida than he was in Atlanta.
Sometimes impatience can masquerade as aggressiveness. But Zito’s aggressiveness seems calculated, well-thought out. He was an agent then the Columbus assistant general manager before coming to Florida.
Zito isn’t likely to be as busy as he was last offseason, but he has major issues to contemplate.
Veteran defenseman Keith Yandle, at this stage of his career, isn’t a coach Joel Quenneville style player. Quenneville scratched him during the playoffs. Yandle has a no-move clause, but why stay when the coach would prefer you wouldn’t.
Yandle, 36, still has offensive gifts and he's a fun teammate, but he has two seasons left at $6.35 million. Moving Yandle in a palatable deal for everyone will test Zito’s creativity.
But the most aggravating issue Zito must face is what to do about Sergei Bobrovsky. Zito inherited Bobrovsky’s contract, which still has five years remaining at a salary cap hit of $10 million per season. Bobrovsky hasn't been the goalie he was for Columbus.
Too many years, too much money, to buy out. Even if the Panthers retained salary, Bobrovsky still seems untradeable.
The only way it might work would be trading one problem contract for another. It’s been suggested that perhaps something could be worked out with the Oilers moving the James Neal contract for Bobrovsky. The Oilers do need goaltending help.
But there are numerous problems with that suggestion starting with the fact that Neal’s contract only has two years remaining.
More importantly, Bobrovsky has a no-movement clause, which gives him control over, if or where, he moves. He's not going to go just anywhere.
The reason why there’s more urgency about remedying this problem now is that phenom Spencer Knight has arrived and showed considerable poise in two playoff outings against Tampa Bay. Knight is supposed to be the next great American-born goalie. He owns a 2.06 goals-against average and .933 save percentage. In the same series, Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, had a 5.33 GAA and an .841 save percentage.
Adding to the problem, the team’s other goalie, Chris Driedger, who played well this season, is an unrestricted free agent.
But perhaps we are all overthinking this. Knight is only 20. While he looks ready, it’s possible he’s not as ready as he looks. Maybe Knight and Bob share the net next season. But if Knight is ready to be a full-time starter , the Panthers could end up with the league’s first $10 million full-time backup.
Zito is already considered a good catch for the Panthers, but if he can figure out how to move Bobrovsky he will be considered a miracle-worker.
Blogger •HHOF Writer's column on the NHL • 
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