Jonathan Huberdeau offer sheet drama?

On Tuesday morning, Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel reported that Florida Panthers RFA Jonathan Huberdeau was mulling a two-year offer from the team – a bridge contract for the 22-year-old center, who made $3,194,166 against the cap in the last season of his rookie deal. 

It makes sense for the Panthers, who will have some money coming off the payroll in 2017 and who will know by then what they have in Huberdeau, who had 54 points in 79 games last season.

Does it make sense for Huberdeau? That remains to be seen. But if he wanted to force the issue, then a handy way would be through an offer sheet.

Both Bob McKenzie of TSN and Renaud Lavoie of TVA report that teams are “kicking the tires” on a Huberdeau offer sheet.

Check out General Fanager’s indispensable offer sheet eligibility tracker to see who has the necessary picks to issue one.

Panthers GM Dale Tallon is confident the team can get something done with Huberdeau before camp. That’s our expectation as well; one assumes if they’re taking bridge deal this late in the game, it’s something Huberdeau is comfortable with and the delay is about the dollars.

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