Eastern Conference team close to being forced to find trade

PUBLICATION

Dorin Canaday
November 22, 2022 (9:15 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

A majority of NHL clubs are in salary cap trouble since the pandemic shut down the league and, of course, a source of revenue for all teams.

More teams are near or over the cap ceiling than ever, and have been forced to make deals they didn't particularly want to. According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli, that's what's about to happen to the Florida Panthers very soon.

On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Seravalli noted how Anthony Duclair is close to returning, which will force the team to find a deal to shed some cap.

(Duclair has missed the entire season due to an Achilles tendon injury he suffered this summer).

As per Seravalli:

''Because the Florida Panthers have been flying incredibly close to the sun with the salary cap this season. They're dressing the league minimum, they're carrying the league minimum of players. You saw last week with Aaron Ekblad when he was sick, they didn't get a replacement, they played one player short. And so, they don't have anyone to send down and that means if they'd like to activate Duclair, who I'm told is closing in on a return, he's already skating, looking like sometime around Christmas at the earliest, he's got a $3 million cap hit, and in order to activate him, they have no space. They absolutely must make a trade.''

Seravalli also mentioned forwards Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett as potential trade options for the Panthers. Find the link to the full article below: