The puck isn’t the only thing that dropped around 3pm EST this afternoon. Word came down that the Panthers have acquired Jiri Hudler from the Calgary Flames. The fun didn’t stop after puck drop either. Teddy Purcell was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers, and Jakub Kindl from the Detroit Red Wings before the first period was over.
All I have to say is wow. I thought the Panthers would make a couple moves before the trade deadline, but I did not expect such a flurry of action. Three trades in the span of less than an hour. All three moves help settle the Panthers depth situation, which was exposed during the recent run of injuries. If the Panthers hope to make noise in the playoffs, they will not get there relying on Logan Shaw as the 3rd line right wing or Steven Kampfer as an every game defenseman. That’s not to say those guys are not valuable, the Panthers do need them. They just need smaller roles. Let’s hash out how everything fits.
Jiri Hudler (CGY) for ’16 2nd round pick and ’18 4th round pick
The first of the three trades is one I had not looked into before. At first glance, I am loving it:
We’re talking about a guy who was probably playing a few too many minutes, but none the less offered his team valuable minutes. He’s mostly been playing on the right wing this year with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, but he can play elsewhere at forward. Should he stay on the right side, it will give the Panthers a roll of Jagr/Smith/Hudler/Shaw on most nights. That sounds very appropriate for a playoff team, and I would be comfortable with that going into the playoffs.
The only gripe I may have is that his individual shot rate is rather low at 8.62 iCF/60. The Panthers are a low event team as is, and in a vacuum, this does not seem to aid that issue. However, given how solid he has been with good young talent in Calgary, and the other acquisitions of the day, that’s something I can live with. Speaking of the other acquisitions…
Teddy Purcell (EDM) for ’16 3rd round pick
I spoke a bit about Teddy Purcell in my trade targets piece. There’s no use re-inventing the wheel, so here is what I said then:
“Should the Panthers miss or otherwise not prefer Andrew Ladd, a good alternative might be Teddy Purcell. The Edmonton Oilers forward is not as well renown in the league as Andrew Ladd, but he stacks up well:
Purcell is not as good of a goal scorer as Ladd, so that hurts, but they, otherwise, are very close when it comes to production and shot metrics. One place Purcell gives away to Ladd is physicality. Where Ladd has over a thousand hits in 9 seasons, Purcell has just 167. This is not necessarily a knock on Purcell, depending on play style it may just mean he does not run around as much, and stays in position. So if its a physical presence you are looking for, Purcell probably is not your guy.
However, with an iCF/60 of 14.0, his shot rate would be a welcome feature on a team that does not shoot enough.”
Obviously, this still stands today. The big thing here is Purcell, like Hudler, has largely played on the right side this season along with good young players Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl. Purcell does not get the same production as Hudler, but he also shoots more. I do wonder what the mix is going to look like going forward. Will he stay on the right side, or will someone else be forced to the left side, given how solid the Panthers center situation is already? Gerard Gallant has no shortage of possibilities before him. Its a great dilemma to have.
The question now becomes who goes down? I’d imagine you probably see Greg McKegg and Garrett Wilson go down. Barkov is back so you do not need McKegg at center, and you probably see one of Hudler or Purcell go to the left side. Shaw has been real solid in the bottom six all year, he needs to stay.
It should also be pointed out that the Panthers currently sit at 49 pro contracts, one below the 50 contract limit. It is not out of the question that we may see someone shipped out of the organization to create some wiggle room. Will it be Brandon Pirri? Dylan Olsen? With how surprising this afternoon was, any guess will do because no one really knows except Tallon and company.
Jakub Kindl (DET) for ’17 6th round pick
I advocated for claiming Jakub Kindl off waivers earlier this week. It didn’t happen, because they obviously traded for him this afternoon. Now, you might ask why would not claim the player for free and then later trade an asset for him? I have got two words for you: salary retention. You can’t get the other team to retain salary on a waiver claim. If salary retention is a must, and a 6th round pick is all it costs, then I am all for that.
As I mentioned in my column earlier in the week, Kindl has a better statisitcal profile than the Panthers current depth defense, so he will be a boon to the back end. He will help bring balance to all three of the pairs the Panthers will roll. I’m thinking this is what we end up seeing:
Kulikov – Ekblad
Campbell – Gudbranson
Kindl – Petrovic
Kampfer
Just as I felt about the balance Hudler may bring to the right side, this too seems appropriate for a playoff to me. Kindl automatically becomes the most frequent shooter on the Panthers blueline as well, which is big for a team that continues to struggle with shooting. If a better push is coming from the back end, and there’s a couple extra weapons up front, then that could help sooth some of the Panthers shot generation issues. These players are also all solid enough that we should reasonably expect that the Panthers will remain a very good shot suppression team.
Closing Thought
At this point, I am hoping that the Panthers are done adding. I am generally wary of messing with the room at trade deadline time. It takes time to grow as a group, and adding three new faces to the mix with just 21 games remaining can complicate things. However, I have faith that this is the case, and that if anything happens, it will be one or two players leave to clear contract slots.
It was quite the exciting day, bring on the rest of the season.
