Unrestricted Thoughts - Pending UFA 2023 NHL Defensemen candidates for the Florida Panthers
By Daniel López (@dlolobo) 02/15/2023 Last night, the Florida Panthers lost 6-2 to a St. Louis Blues team that is showcasing some of their veteran players for what appears to be a rebuild, or least a "re-tooling." Following an enthralling 2021-22 regular season that led to the best regular season in franchise history and a ho-hum President's Trophy (the curse is real!), the 2022-23 season has largely been a disappointing one for the Cats. Currently on the outside looking into a wildcard playoff position, the calculus and scoreboard watching of the teams they're competing with becomes moot when they lose "must-win" games. There is still hope, of course! Whether they qualify for this season's Stanley Cup playoffs or not, the team is in dire need of upgrading a blue line core that was mangled after a blockbuster offseason trade to acquire superstar Matthew Tkachuk. The cap crunch that so many NHL teams looking to contend get squeezed by, necessitated the ...