Post by Florida Panthers on Dec 12, 2015 13:23:43 GMT -5
The state of Florida has ERUPTED and has sent the OGSHL into shock with the Panthers most recent trade. The Florida Panthers are very proud to announce they have landed Connor McDavid!
When GM Joe Brodsky was asked about how it all went down he responded with, "This has been an ongoing trade discussion since before the draft even took place. We seemed to just be going back and forth on different trade scenarios and none of us really budging on what to give up, but I ended up giving in as I realized how big this move can be for our organization. It is hard to imagine having one "Generational Talent" in Eichel on your roster let alone adding a 2nd one in McDavid who is even better than Eichel. The reason we were so hesitant to perform this move was because of the impact it would have on the depth of our roster.
Elias Lindholm, Andre Burakovsky, Curtis Lazar, and Nikita Zadorov were supposed to be the building blocks around our cornerstones of Mackinnon and Eichel up front with Provorov and Ristolainen guarding our blueline and Holtby manning the fort. It is hard to imagine moving 4 impact players who are all 21 or younger and were all 1st round picks themselves in 2013. Lindholm was the 5th pick, Zadorov the 16th, Lazar the 17th and Burakovsky the 23rd pick. That is just a crazy amount of depth to move for one player, but luckily our team was deep enough that we felt we could perform this move. However, moving Juuse Saros was the deciding factor in this trade as Saros projects to be a starting goalie in the league who just may very well end up being a top 10 goalie in the league if he continues to improve each year like he has. With the goaltending depth that we have in Holtby, Ward, Kuemper, Jarry and our recent 1st round pick in Ilya Samsonov we felt this was doable. Luckily we have 3 1st round picks heading into this years draft and we will be able to restock the cupboards for our depth and move forward."
Projected 2016-2017 Lineup
The Panthers projected lineup for next season as it stands right now looks to be that of:
Jonathan Huberdeau - Connor McDavid - Valeri Nichushkin
Nathan Mackinnon - Jack Eichel - Artemi Panarin
Nail Yakupov - Tomas Hertl - Sven Baertschi
Jamie McGinn - Paul Gaustad - Tuomo Ruutu
Rasmus Ristolainen - Michael Del Zotto
Damon Severson - Jon Merrill
Nate Schmidt - Kyle Quincey
Braden Holtby
Cam Ward
The Panthers Prospect System will also include some big names with the likes of:
Forwards: Anthony Mantha, Evgeny Svechnikov, Denis Gurianov, Sergei Kalinin, Reid Boucher, Riley Barber
Defenseman Ivan Provorov, Madison Bowey, Jordan Schmaltz, Jonathan MacLeod, Ethan Bear, Alexandre Carrier
Goaltenders Ilya Samsonov, Darcy Kuemper, Tristan Jarry
When asked about his roster makeup we were given the response of, "We will most likely be a bubble team next season with our current roster, but that is okay as we have our eyes set to truly start competing in the 2017-2018 season. If we had to choose one spot to improve upon within our system that would be our defenseman for sure. We have a solid core of Ristolainen, Severson, Merrill and Del Zotto in the NHL right now, but we truly won't be where we want to unless Ivan Provorov and Madison Bowey step up to the plate and live up to the hype. We are confident in our goaltending every night out and goaltending will be the reason this team has any success both this season and next season."
The Florida Panthers do still have 3 1st round picks so it will be very interesting come draft time if the Panthers will draft by a need basis in defenseman or simply take the best players that they feel are available which seems to be GM Joe Brodsky's mindset. I will say one thing though, things in Florida have just gotten ALOT more interesting.
When GM Joe Brodsky was asked about how it all went down he responded with, "This has been an ongoing trade discussion since before the draft even took place. We seemed to just be going back and forth on different trade scenarios and none of us really budging on what to give up, but I ended up giving in as I realized how big this move can be for our organization. It is hard to imagine having one "Generational Talent" in Eichel on your roster let alone adding a 2nd one in McDavid who is even better than Eichel. The reason we were so hesitant to perform this move was because of the impact it would have on the depth of our roster.
Elias Lindholm, Andre Burakovsky, Curtis Lazar, and Nikita Zadorov were supposed to be the building blocks around our cornerstones of Mackinnon and Eichel up front with Provorov and Ristolainen guarding our blueline and Holtby manning the fort. It is hard to imagine moving 4 impact players who are all 21 or younger and were all 1st round picks themselves in 2013. Lindholm was the 5th pick, Zadorov the 16th, Lazar the 17th and Burakovsky the 23rd pick. That is just a crazy amount of depth to move for one player, but luckily our team was deep enough that we felt we could perform this move. However, moving Juuse Saros was the deciding factor in this trade as Saros projects to be a starting goalie in the league who just may very well end up being a top 10 goalie in the league if he continues to improve each year like he has. With the goaltending depth that we have in Holtby, Ward, Kuemper, Jarry and our recent 1st round pick in Ilya Samsonov we felt this was doable. Luckily we have 3 1st round picks heading into this years draft and we will be able to restock the cupboards for our depth and move forward."
Projected 2016-2017 Lineup
The Panthers projected lineup for next season as it stands right now looks to be that of:
Jonathan Huberdeau - Connor McDavid - Valeri Nichushkin
Nathan Mackinnon - Jack Eichel - Artemi Panarin
Nail Yakupov - Tomas Hertl - Sven Baertschi
Jamie McGinn - Paul Gaustad - Tuomo Ruutu
Rasmus Ristolainen - Michael Del Zotto
Damon Severson - Jon Merrill
Nate Schmidt - Kyle Quincey
Braden Holtby
Cam Ward
The Panthers Prospect System will also include some big names with the likes of:
Forwards: Anthony Mantha, Evgeny Svechnikov, Denis Gurianov, Sergei Kalinin, Reid Boucher, Riley Barber
Defenseman Ivan Provorov, Madison Bowey, Jordan Schmaltz, Jonathan MacLeod, Ethan Bear, Alexandre Carrier
Goaltenders Ilya Samsonov, Darcy Kuemper, Tristan Jarry
When asked about his roster makeup we were given the response of, "We will most likely be a bubble team next season with our current roster, but that is okay as we have our eyes set to truly start competing in the 2017-2018 season. If we had to choose one spot to improve upon within our system that would be our defenseman for sure. We have a solid core of Ristolainen, Severson, Merrill and Del Zotto in the NHL right now, but we truly won't be where we want to unless Ivan Provorov and Madison Bowey step up to the plate and live up to the hype. We are confident in our goaltending every night out and goaltending will be the reason this team has any success both this season and next season."
The Florida Panthers do still have 3 1st round picks so it will be very interesting come draft time if the Panthers will draft by a need basis in defenseman or simply take the best players that they feel are available which seems to be GM Joe Brodsky's mindset. I will say one thing though, things in Florida have just gotten ALOT more interesting.
