5 best fits for Ilya Kovalchuk in NHL free agency
By Nick McAdam
2. Florida Panthers
When thinking of teams on the bubble for playoff contention, the Florida Panthers are always the first to mind for some reason. They put in all this work during the season to miss out on the postseason by single digit points.
What’s really driving the team back right now is the lack of high-powered offense when you glance further down the lines. Losing Jonathan Marchessault had to hurt, especially with his emerging abilities as a sniper.
Instead of fixing it, the Panthers just sat back and let everything unfold. It seriously almost worked out for them as well as they barely missed the playoffs in the recent campaign.
But it isn’t always going to work out. Florida will need to find the depth and scoring ability to not only make the playoffs, but to able to compete in them. Four players on the team went above 20 goals in the campaign; the rest of the team did not.
It’s a problem. While the management tries to find young players that have pace and score, yet again, Kovalchuk can come in and at least find 20 to put into the net. They’ll have more of a case with depth offensively to support the back with players like Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle and Roberto Luongo.