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Way Too Early Expansion Draft Possibilities: Florida Panthers


(For the basic parameters, read here. Other information from hockeydb.com and capfriendly.com)

Florida was "kind" enough to send Vegas two-thirds of a really good scoring line, a key bit of good luck to help the Golden Knights get off to a historic start. Let's see who some possible players are they could send to Seattle.

Forwards: Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck, Nick Bjugstad, Colton Sceviour

Defensemen/Defencemen: Aaron Ekbald, Keith Yandle, Mike Matheson

Goalies: Roberto Luongo, James Reimer

Wow, that's an embarrassment of (potential) riches to choose from at first blush. Florida's been drafting high well for years, and they've got a really great core locked up long term (most of these guys' contracts go well past the 20/21 window we're using in this exercise.), but somebody here is going to be at the very least made available. Or, potentially more radically, perhaps even traded to Seattle or elsewhere to ensure there's a decent return. That said, some of these guys are much better bets (sorry) to be going to Seattle in a few years.

First off, Luongo's not going anywhere. He may've legitimately loved being in the Pacific Northwest earlier in his career but at this stage of his life he's staying put in Florida. Reimer might be made available (his contract being way less complicated than Luongo's, to put it mildly), but if Florida's plan has been to have him take over in net when Luongo retires or slows down that comes with a clear caveat. It's easy to see something going to Seattle, be it pick or prospect, to persuade Seattle to leave him alone. Otherwise, Florida's not going to be giving either of these guys up if they don't absolutely have to.

Of the forwards, the most likely would be Sceviour. He's far and away the cheapest contract of the five. Unless Seattle is willing to send something or someone back to Florida to pry someone higher up on the pecking order, I can't see Florida wanting to make any of the other four so readily available. The only way this changes, to me, is twofold:

-- Florida needs the cap room to sign the next wave of players coming up. Having such a young core already locked up probably gives them some room as veteran contracts start to roll off the payroll. But if they need the room AND

-- Someone's game falls off due to injuries or circumstances that can't really be projected now then maybe one of the higher end/higher price guys becomes available. Most teams have contracts they want to get out of if they can, and it's a non-zero chance one of these contracts could become a turd blossom after all. I would concede none of the five forwards have any restrictive movement clauses in their contracts, so that does make it marginally more plausible.

I'd hate to speculate too much here, but really that's what I think it would take.

On the back line, Yandle has a no-movement clause. IF you can get hime to waive it, he's the obvious choice. He's far and away the oldest guy (other than Luongo) here and he has the second highest cap hit. Matheson and Ekbald are, short of actually asking to leave, not going anywhere. Arguably more than the forwards, I think this where Florida looks at how it handled the expansion draft and decides to not fix what isn't broken.

So, unless you're getting Yandle to move to the Puget Sound, I'm going to go with:

Colton Sceviour (Right Wing)

Why Florida Would Make Him Available: With Evgeni Dadonov and top prospect Owen Tippett the nominal top two right wingers for Florida, playing time for any other prospects will have to come from someplace. As useful as Sceviour can still be, I'm not sure i'd call him irreplaceable. Especially not at that price.

Why Seattle Would Want Him: He can kill penalties, so that's a start. A contract like that could net a pick at the trade deadline if a contender is looking to improve their bottom-six. Having played part of his junior career just down The 5 in Portland, he might welcome a return to the Pacific Northwest. Even if his drafting doesn't move the needle much, it might be worth asking if Florida wants to package anything extra with him to keep Seattle away from more attractive pieces.

I suppose not every player is going to be an exciting choice at first glance, but people weren't overwhelmed with a lot of Vegas picks at first either. Sceviour might not be the most exciting name Florida could make available, but he's not without his uses.

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