Florida’s season ended on April 9. Since then, the Panthers:
-- Made a coaching change from Tom Rowe to Bob Boughner
-- Re-instilled Dale Tallon as GM
-- Lost leading goalscorer Jonathan Marchessault in the expansion draft
-- Traded Reilly Smith to Las Vegas.
And they might not be done shaking things up.
Per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, defenseman Jason Demers -- who was left unprotected at the expansion draft -- is now available for trade. The news comes just one year after Demers signed a five-year, $22.5 million deal with Florida in free agency, one of the biggest moves in the club’s defensive overhaul from the season prior.
The 29-year-old was a lineup fixture in Florida last year. He appeared in 81 of 82 games, scoring nine goals and 28 points while averaging 19:37 TOI.
If anything, today’s news suggests Tallon might be trying to undo the work Rowe did during his stint as GM. It was Rowe, don’t forget, that inked Smith to his five-year, $25 million deal last July. Smith went on to have a subpar year -- just 15 goals and 37 points -- and, in one of his final noteworthy acts as head coach, Rowe called Smith out for his lacklustre play towards the end of the season.