In a condensed NHL season where sellers might be tough to come by, the Florida Panthers are apparently willing to listen to "all offers" now that the team has fallen back in the playoff race.
The report, as seen in the Calgary Sun, mentions that the Panthers are willing to deal just about any player on the roster, excluding Jonathan Huberdeau, Erik Gudbranson, Jakob Markstrom and Drew Shore.
Thanks to the lockout, the 2013 NHL season is a bit of an odd one. The Florida Panthers are reportedly waving the white flag, intent to move some of their pieces because they believe they're out of the playoff race. Yes, the Panthers are last in the Eastern Conference but they currently sit just eight points out of a playoff spot. In a normal year, this wouldn't be cause to sell off the team but thanks to the work stoppage, we're seeing Florida call it quits relatively early as we approach the deadline on April 3rd.
Realistically, Florida is pretty much out of contention, mostly due to injuries across the roster. They might still be in it mathematically, but using some common sense you can see that a run would be pretty unlikely.
The report from the Calgary Sun mentions that the team is shopping Kris Versteeg, a name that plenty of teams would be interested in. The Panthers were also planning on shopping Stephen Weiss but a wrist injury ended his season and ended the trade rumors.
At the very least, it's fun for neutral hockey fans to see a team that's willing to trade as we approach the deadline. As mentioned above, nearly every team is still in the hunt and that could result in very few moves at the deadline as few teams recognize themselves as sellers.
With Florida now open to selling, which teams will join them? Calgary? Buffalo? Tampa Bay?
