Florida Panthers: The best landing spots for Keith Yandle with end in sight

1. The Boston Bruins

Keith Yandle is a Milton, Massachusetts native and still has roots and family in the area, so a trade to the Boston Bruins would make absolute sense and that’s why I think this would be a no-brainer move for all parties across the board.

For starters, the Bruins have some assets and some role players they could flip to the Florida Panthers as part of any trade, and they also have the Draft capital in case they need to kick in a sweetener or two, while they are projected to have just under $20 million in cap space at the Trade Deadline so Yandle’s $6,350,000 AAV wouldn’t be a problem.

Secondly, and as we’ve already mentioned, Yandle is from the area and still has a lot of family ties so, if he is forced to leave Florida, then what better to move to a contender and finish your NHL career back home. It would no doubt be an attractive option for the 34-year-old and could also present him with one last opportunity to win a Stanley Cup.

It also makes a lot of sense for the Boston Bruins given that the blueline is arguably their biggest weakness heading into the 2020-21 NHL season. After losing both Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug in the offseason, the B’s have one of the youngest defense corps in the entire NHL and they could do with some leadership.

Yandle would provide that and he would act as a good mentor for the likes of Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk, while also taking some of the offensive burden of those two who will otherwise be expected to do everything for a Bruins team still considered a legit contender.

By trading for Yandle, the Bruins would be getting a top-four defenseman who could quarterback the second power play unit, replace some of the production vacated by Torey Krug, log big minutes, act as a mentor for some of Boston’s young blueliners and also bring some much-needed leadership and experience to that backend, which is why Keith Yandle to the Boston Bruins would be a home run of a move.