Extensions in the Works for Two Panthers Players
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart. He was asked about the goalie market, specifically Sergei Bobrovsky, and whether extension talks are in the works with the Florida Panthers.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Florida Panthers Listening on Sergei Bobrovsky But Will He Be Traded?
Anthony Stewart: “So with all the posturing going back and forth, are you surprised Sergei Bobrovsky was not moved , and in general, the lack of goalie movement, or those are some difficult deals to do with one day to get it done?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, yeah, it is. And you started to hear more goalie names kind of popping up. It wasn’t just those guys. It (Jesper) Wallstedt with Minnesota. I mean, you have (Anthony) Stolarz with Toronto. His name started popping up a bit. I mentioned (Samuel) Montembault. There are a few different pieces that started coming into play as teams kind of explored what those options might be.
And with Bob, I still believe he’s going to stick around there. I still believe that there’s two, maybe a three-year extension that could come into play once, the dust settles on deadline season and all of that. But, there was some chatter of Montreal. There was chatter of San Jose.
Of course, there’s the biggest talk to, and I’m sure there were conversations that were there, but I don’t think it truly intensified to the point where it was getting close. Although there was, I think one team told me that believe Florida was willing to retain half of that $10 million cap and facilitate this deal for this season.
NHL Rumors: Florida Panthers Want to Keep Sergei Bobrovsky
But again, it didn’t get there. I’m not overly shocked that Bob stuck around. A little bit surprised, there was a lot of interest in A.J. Greer. And clearly, Florida had some particular price that they wanted to meet. Didn’t get there, and they’re going to, I believe, explore an extension with Greer once things calm down.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The Florida Panthers kept both A.J. Greer and Sergei Bobrovsky heading into the deadline. However, there was no such talk earlier in the season when everyone knew their situations. It wasn’t a big deal at the beginning of the season, especially for Bobrovsky, and it was more of a ploy by his agent to get talks rolling.
However, Bobrovsky doesn’t negotiate in-season and wanted to be in Florida. As Paul Maurice and GM Bill Zito have stated, he is the backbone of the organization. He is the foundation. The players want him to be there. Bobrovsky told the team he wants to be there and didn’t want to get traded. Expect a two to three-year deal somewhere in the $6 million to $7.5 million AAV range.
NHL Rumors: Florida Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky Slow Playing Extension Talks
As for A.J. Greer, the belief is that he will get a mid-range deal in the $2 million range. But the Panthers want to keep him as well.
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