Florida Panthers: Don’t Buy into the Jonathan Huberdeau Trade Rumor

Just yesterday, it was reported that Florida Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau could be dealt in a Panarin-Bobrovsky trade package. Rest assured, it’s just a rumor…

As soon as TSN Hockey reported that the Florida Panthers could deal Jonathan Huberdeau leading up to the deadline, many on Panthers twitter went into full panic mode.

And rightfully so, hearing the words “trade” and “Jonathan Huberdeau” would instantly set off alarm bells in any rationale Panthers mind. The two just don’t go well together and GM Dale Tallon has resisted giving up his core pieces in the past for a quick-fix trade.

Now, back to the subject matter of Jonathan Huberdeau and why not to believe this report. Firstly, this report is just merely breaking down what it would take to pull off a package deal containing Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin.

In no way, shape, or even form is it suggesting that the Panthers are actively shopping Huberdeau. It goes without saying that in most cases, Huberdeau remains an untouchable piece that will remain on this Panthers puzzle moving forward.

The 25-year-old has four years left on his team-friendly deal worth $5.9 million annually, and it would be silly for Florida to trade a core piece for a couple of rental players that they could pursue in the summer on the open market.

Don’t forget, the Panthers recently dumped forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann onto the  Pittsburgh Penguins, opening over $5 million worth of cap space to work with in the summer.

Cap space remains one of the non-existent issues that the Panthers face to date. If anything, they have an abundance of space to sign both Bobrovsky and Panarin, which still leaves enough room available to re-sign their own guys that need extending.

Most importantly, though, the idea behind pursuing the two is to add them both onto the core they already have. Swapping them for the Panthers’ second-best forward doesn’t make any sense and it really doesn’t improve the team at any significant level.

In reality, Jonathan Huberdeau has shown no signs of wanting out and we’ve yet to hear him come out on the record expressing his wishes to leave.

He may hold frustrations in terms of what he and the team are currently experiencing this season; a player can only take so much when they’ve only experienced playoff hockey once in their seven-year career.

But what I can note is that it’s more likely that Huberdeau is wanting to stick it through, hoping that Tallon can bring in some reinforcements to improve this roster moving forward.

What I can reassure you of is that Jonathan Huberdeau is going nowhere and the Panthers front office remain high on him both for the present and the future.

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