The Panthers lost a lot on Day 1 of free agency, but Zito defends conservative strategy

The Florida Panthers were busy on the first day of free agency Wednesday.

It just wasn’t very flashy.

It also, on paper, has the Panthers looking worse off than they were when their season ended back in May.

Claude Giroux, Mason Marchment, Noel Acciari and Ben Chiarot are gone. Their replacements are a slew of players making $1.2 million or less, headlined by Nick Cousins and Colin White.

Florida did not enter the day with many options because of their lack of cap space — and eschewed any of the tactics they could have utilized to create some more — and so Day 1 of free agency for the Panthers became a parade of proven NHL players going out and bargain-bin pick-ups coming in to replace them.

Bill Zito’s third offseason as general manager was always going to be his trickiest one yet and a somewhat controversial series of moves — now dating back to March because of what he gave up to get Giroux and Chiarot as short-term rentals — will have his job more scrutinized than ever because of how close Florida believes it is to winning a Stanley Cup.

“We think we got done what we set out to do,” Zito said. “We didn’t have a lot of cap space, but we tried to be as prudent and efficient with the space that we had, and we’re pretty excited about the players that are coming in.”

Their full-time NHL newcomers are Cousins and White — a pair of 20-something centers, who should be able to slide into bottom-six roles — and defenseman Marc Staal, who could be Chiarot’s replacement as a third-pairing defenseman. They added goaltender Alex Lyon and defenseman Anthony Bitetto on two-way deals, signed defenseman Nathan Staios to an entry-level contract, and, in maybe their splashiest move of the day, brought in six-time All-Star center Eric Staal for a professional tryout.

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Excluding the latter Staal, who didn’t even play in the NHL last season, the forwards in this group have combined for just 236 points in 668 games and none of the players have ever made an NHL All-Star Game.

All got one-year deals, except Cousins, who signed for two years and $2.2 million at 29. White, 25 and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, commanded the biggest annual salary at one year for $1.2 million.

Even if it might yield some good role players, this haul was overshadowed by the players Florida lost Wednesday.

Giroux, 34, was the most valuable player of the 2022 NHL All-Star Game and scored 31 points in 28 games for the Panthers after they gave up a first-round pick to trade for him in March, and signed with the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for three years and $19.5 million. Marchment, 27, broke out for 47 points in 54 regular-season games last year, and signed with the Dallas Stars on Wednesday for four years and $18 million. Chiarot, 31, also cost Florida a first-round pick in a trade in March, and signed with the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday for four years and $19 million.

As the Panthers entered the day with less than $3.8 million in effective cap space available, only Acciari, who signed a one-year deal for $1.3 million with the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, could have come back without some complicated maneuvering.

“We just don’t have the cap space,” Zito said. “It’s part of life in the National Hockey League, but it’s never easy.”

There were avenues to create more cap room, of course, and Zito said Florida was “investigating” all its options on a daily basis. The Panthers could have bought out the final year of right wing Patric Hornqivst’s deal and could have created about $3.5 million more in cap space by deferring almost $1.8 million of his salary to next year, but decided against it. They also didn’t — or couldn’t — trade Hornqvist, star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky or defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.

All those options had obvious drawbacks: A buyout would have meant more dead money for a team already saddled with a nearly $5.4 million cap hit because it bought out defenseman Keith Yandle last year, a Hornqvist trade would have meant attaching Draft picks or assets to entice a team to take on his $5.3 million contract, and a Bobrovsky trade would have probably required sending out assets and taking on dead money by retaining some of Bobrovsky’s $10 million salary for the next four years.

The considered it all — “It was pretty exhaustive,” Zito said — and decided this course of action, plus the hire of coach Paul Maurice last month, was the best way to finally bring a Cup to South Florida.

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Whether this was the best strategy won’t just be determined by what happens in the 2022-23 NHL season. The Panthers’ decisions were also made with an eye toward next offseason, when Weegar and All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau will both become free agents. Florida wants to keep both stars and ideally would like to figure out extensions before next season begins.

Those talks began in earnest at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft last week in Montreal and will now heat up with the Panthers’ future cap situation settled.

At the same time, Florida should be one of the best teams in the NHL again next year. After the Panthers won the Presidents’ Trophy last season, anything less than another championship chase will be a disappointment.

Zito, however, has made Florida better every offseason and earned the benefit of any doubt, even if he hasn’t been through a summer quite as tumultuous as this one.

“Each one of these players brings a unique skill set,” Zito said. “We thought they were pieces that could fit into our puzzle.”