The Florida Panthers lost Jonathan Marchessault in the expansion draft. It appears, however, they may have acquired another potential scoring forward through free agency.
According to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel, the Panthers have agreed on a deal for KHL scorer Evgeny Dadonov, who had 30 goals and 66 points in 53 games for St. Petersburg SKA this past season.
It was believed Dadonov would actually join the Vegas Golden Knights, especially after that club signed his St. Petersburg teammate Vadim Shipachyov.
Hearing Dadonov will get three years in FLA with an AAV of $4M: https://t.co/ym1pzfT079
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2017
That's because Dadonov once played in NHL, so he wasn't free to sign until July 1. Pre-July 1 negotiations were, however, permitted.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2017
The Panthers initially selected Dadonov in the third round of the 2007 NHL Draft. He appeared in 55 games for Florida from 2010 to 2012, scoring a total of 10 goals and 20 points.
Teams are allowed to talk with pending unrestricted free agents, however nothing can be signed and made official until tomorrow.