Pierre LeBrun: The Florida Panthers hope they are able to take a run at Columbus Blue Jackets pending UFAs Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Yesterday’s trade givens them some added flexibility to do so. They could wait until July 1st or they could check in before the trade deadline to see if it makes sense.
Waiting until July 1st makes more sense as they wouldn’t have to give up assets to acquire them.
Chris Johnston: Florida Panthers GM Dale Tallon yesterday after the trade: “We’ve freed up a lot of space for an aggressive summer in free agency.