Florida Panthers Still Have Sights Set On One Trade Deadline Path

The Florida Panthers are in an unfamiliar place as they sit eight points out of a playoff spot in the East at the Olympic break, and aren't getting Aleksander Barkov back during the regular season, all after making it to the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row.

The major injuries didn't help the team and they have been above .500, but so is every other team in the Eastern Conference except for the New York Rangers at this point this season. So the trade deadline is going to be interesting for this team.

There is still some time from when the NHL teams start playing games again and the trade deadline on March 6, but not a ton of time. Darren Dreger said, "I still think unless mathematically they just recognize it's not worth it, Billy Zito, for me, will be a buyer."

Eight points back with 25 games to play and six teams to jump to get into a playoff spot is a tall task. The Panthers only have five games before the deadline, and one comes March 5. They have to string together some wins right out of the break, and maybe even that won't be enough to make up much ground.

If the Panthers don't come back hot from the break and they're 8-10 points back of a playoff spot by the deadline with 20 games remaining, I think that would be the place where Florida doesn't buy, but rather stands pat.

If the Panthers don't think they're out of the race, then it's hard to imagine they'll swing for any fences with a pending UFA without a contract. With $2.5 million in cap space to spend, the Panthers could get something, possibly similar to what the New York Islanders were doing and getting players for very cheap to insert in.

It's not an ideal situation or season for the Panthers, but sometimes the empire falls after so much damage. The last three seasons have been long, but the Panthers have the pieces to potentially go on a late season run this season and be back as a Stanley Cup contender next season.