Florida Panthers Should Trade Alex Petrovic

The Florida Panthers are a team struggling to find wins this season and have fallen out of the playoffs. It’s time for them to shake things up by trading Alex Petrovic.

Alex Petrovic was protected in the NHL expansion draft. The Florida Panthers protected him over other former Panthers players like Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith, now both in Vegas. Both of them have become first line players.

It’s safe to say the Florida Panthers may be regretting their protection strategy. They opted for the four-defenseman strategy instead of going with the safer seven-forward choice. The rest of the Florida Panthers top four defense has lived up to their protection status. Keith Yandle is fifth on the team with 19 points. Aaron Ekblad continues to be one of the 15 best defensemen in the NHL. Mark Pysyk has had a rough go of it so far this season. But he still has six points, including three goals and three assists, in 34 games.

However, Alex Petrovic hasn’t lived up to his protection spot. He’s managed only three assists and has become a healthy scratch at times, being placed on the third pair for others. Now it’s time for the Florida Panthers to make a decision. Either wait it out with someone who becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the season, or trade him and see what you can get in return. This might be an unpopular opinion, but their most logical choice is the second option.

Why Another Team Would Trade For Him

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The two seasons before this one, Petrovic had some great advanced stats in his game. He drew 15 penalties in 115 games. Petrovic averaged more than 16 minutes of even strength time last season and has been a crucial shot blocker for the Florida Panthers.

He has also been a key penalty killer for the past three seasons and had a primary shorthanded assist in the 2015 season. Petrovic drew four penalties on the penalty kill last season, with five the season before.

So there remain a lot of reasons to like him and to give something up for him. Especially with Petrovic becoming a restricted free agent, and his cap hit only being $1.85 million for this season. The question for other general managers will be whether a change of scenery and change of scheme will do him any good.

Looking at how Petrovic’s numbers have changed since going from a coach like Gerard Gallant to someone like Bob Boughner, the answer is likely yes.

The Return

A potential return for Petrovic would be significantly reduced by his play this year, and the fact that he’s been lowered to a third-pairing defensive status. But he’s still young, and coaches should still have faith. It all depends on which teams are willing to trade for him.

I think a third-round pick and/or a mid-tier prospect would be available. That will help with the Florida Panthers’ rebuild, and mid-tier prospects can turn into great things. Martin St. Louis, a famous Floridian hockey player, came to Tampa Bay under bad terms elsewhere before blooming into a should-be Hall of Famer. I would describe him as a mid-tier prospect.

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I don’t know if Petrovic is worth that. But I think Florida should be willing to take it. I also don’t know if a contract-extension for Petrovic is more or less net positive for the Panthers than a trade, no matter how small the return may seem.

How the Florida Panthers Look Without Him

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Honestly, the Panthers have the defensive depth to make up for the loss of Petrovic. With Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle on the top pairing, and with Mark Pysyk rounding out the top-three, those best defensive spots are pretty firmly accounted for.

Mike Matheson has done an admirable job in the top four, and is in the top ten in Panthers scorers, with ten points through 33 games. He’s also got the best giveaway/takeaway ratio of the Florida defense, has blocked 37 shots and has a better high-danger chance ratio than Petrovic. With a top-four long-term contract already in place, it seems like the Panthers are moving on with Matheson.

Petrovic is the odd man out. The bottom-pairing can easily get younger with Ian McCoshen and MacKenzie Weegar. There’s not a ton of top-tier defensive prospects in the system for the Florida Panthers, but Weegar and McCoshen are both under 23. It will be easy for Florida to draft another defenseman in the first round.

Next: Panthers Bold Predictions

I think this is a case where both team and player can move on without doing too much damage. The Panthers can get younger, which helps with the rebuild. And Petrovic can go somewhere he can get minutes, and hopefully live up to his proven defensive potential. That place may just not be in Sunrise.