The Florida Panthers finally made it official on Monday afternoon, announcing restricted free agent Swiss forward Denis Malgin would return for this season.
Denis Malgin, just 21-years-old, was the last restricted free agent that needed to be signed by the Florida Panthers this off-season. The deal was officially announced by the Panthers’ PR team as a one-year, one-way contract.
The reasoning for the delay in the contract extension was not revealed, but it was most certainly an issue of money. The Panthers spent a lot of cash this off-season on Sergei Bobrovsky, Anton Stralman, and Brett Connolly, leaving the team with just $1.5 million to re-sign Malgin.
It was questionable whether Florida would bring him back at all after July passed, he was the last RFA for a long time. To be exact, 42 days since Florida re-signed RFA goalie Sam Montembeault on a one-year deal.
Malgin’s always been one of the more heavily-debated players on whether the kid had NHL-level talent. Some believed he should be a second-line forward with his positioning charts showing that he could create more than what he had to work with. Meanwhile, others made claims that Malgin shouldn’t even receive a contract extension, with his poor end product often being labelled as a liability.
Both sides have fair points, and I could go on and on debating my opinion on Malgin, but I’ll leave it at this: as frustrating as Malgin can be, I’m happy the Panthers brought him back.
Yes, Malgin’s end product is one of his biggest issues. In three seasons for the Panthers, the winger has just 39 points (21 goals, 18 assists) at even-strength in 148 games. Malgin isn’t the toughest player either, with his 5’9″ frame making it harder for him to play as physical as some centers need to play at.
He also doesn’t have an exact position, alternating between right-wing and center since joining the Cats’ roster back in 2016-17. He has the playmaking to be a solid depth center, but struggles in the face-off dot, only winning an average of around 39% of his face-offs.
He has the speed to be a winger but struggles to be the two-way player he sometimes needs to be, lacking a solid defensive game. While there are plenty of other forwards that aren’t as effective defensively, most of them (say, Mike Hoffman as an example) have the offense to make up for it. Malgin’s career-high point tally is 22 points, almost 50% of his career total.
He also has an issue that a lot of the current roster has, an ineffective sense of when to shoot. Malgin averages roughly 1.43 shots per game, a number that he could potentially improve under Joel Quenneville.
Overall, resigning Denis Malgin, whether he consistently plays on the bottom six in front of guys like Jayce Hawryluk or Owen Tippett, or as a healthy scratch, was the right decision. Next off-season, the Panthers will have possibly both of Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman leave in free agency, so having someone with potential that could replace one of them was needed.
Malgin’s role will be uncertain after the forward failed to play for roughly a month down the stretch last season when Jayce Hawryluk made bigger strides as an NHL player. Malgin will certainly have a tougher pre-season this time around, and it’s a huge season for him, not just to earn the trust of a new coach, but the trust of the fanbase.