Coming off the magnificent season FLA experienced in 2015-16; they made a point of emphasis of making their defensive-minded D-men available on the open market. Regarding Kulikov’s case, the Cats were simply hoping to receive some value in return. Florida essentially decided to part ways with the veteran Russian during the second day of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft .
The Panthers brought aboard underrated, “analytical darling” Mark Pysyk who was incredibly impressive throughout the course of the 2016-17 campaign. Playing in all 82 regular season games for the Cats, Pysyk was arguably Florida’s most consistent defenseman; accumulating 4G and 13A for 17 points.