Florida Panthers trade Josh Brown to Ottawa Senators
Several days ago, the Florida Panthers traded defenseman Josh Brown to the Ottawa Senators.
On October 2, 2020, the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators agreed on a minor trade. However the trade is bigger than you might think. The Cats traded defenseman Josh Brown to Ottawa, receiving the 95th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in return.
That pick is in the 4th round. With the trade complete the Panthers now have eight picks this year. Six of them are in the first four rounds. Let’s first dive into what Ottawa is getting with Brown.
The 6’5”, 216 pounder from London, Ontario, Canada. He was originally drafted by the Florida Panthers with the 152nd pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. From 2013 to 2018 he played in major-junior and then AHL hockey. His teams were the Oshawa Generals of the OHL, Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL and the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL. He also had a brief 10 game stint with the Portland Pirates of the AHL as well.
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Brown made his NHL debut with the Panthers during the 2018-19 season in which he played 37 games. He has appeared in just 93 NHL over the past two seasons. His play style isn’t anything mind-blowing. Brown is not a point producer by any means. He is more of an enforcer, as he fought a bit over his time in Florida.
Brown is also decent defensively. His big frame allows him to be physical and he is good at separating opponents from the puck. Brown is also extremely gritty and willing to get to the dirty areas and defend. He is a very good shot blocker as well as a decent skater.
What is a nice story here is that Brown is now playing for his coach that he played for in Oshawa, D.J. Smith. As far as where to expect him to play, Brown would most likely get third pairing minutes.
It is highly possible to see him as a depth defenseman as well. He might not play as a regular all that much. However, that’ll depend on how the Senators shape up their lineup and who they will bring in by next season.
As for the Panthers all they get is the pick. However they get a very good for a player of Josh Brown’s caliber. For someone who has played less than 100 NHL games the fourth round pick was as good as it was going to get for Cats GM Bill Zito. However, what is more important is that this transaction could be a silver lining for a move in free agency for the Panthers.
The Panthers recently got rid of a good amount of money off their cap space with the Mike Matheson trade to Pittsburgh. Zito could be freeing up as much money as possible to make a medium- level signing to bolster one of the leagues’ worst defenses.
Players that could get signed could be Radko Gudas, Mark Borowiecki, and maybe even Erik Gustafsson. Torey Krug also could hit the free agent market if talks with him and the Bruins fall through.
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We shall wait and see if Florida does anything with the money they saved with the two trades. It is also important to mention that the 26 year old defenseman is currently on a 2 year contract with a cap hit of $1.2 million each.