Panthers Ink Thomas For 2014

The Florida Panthers have really liked what they've seen out of the veteran goalie, Tim Thomas, who has been in their training camp on a professional tryout and they've rewarded the 39-year old keeper with a new 1-year deal, worth $3.75 million after all of his playing bonuses.

A lot has been made about Thomas coming back after a year and a bit off, not playing at all during the 2013 season and how he will possibly bounce back and in what role.  The Panthers had a lot of motivation to go with Jacob Markstrom as their number one goalie, but given his inexperience, the Panthers did explore the options of free agency through tryout offers, which Thomas finally accepted.  There is a lot of belief that Thomas will take the reins as the number one goalie in Florida, but the proof will be in the pudding.

Big implications here, now that the deal is done. First and foremost, Ryan now has a full roster, now that Thomas is signed on and ready to go. Ryan picked Thomas in the 5th round of the draft, 103rd overall, on the assumption that Thomas would sign and now that he has, it looks like a pretty good pick.

Trying to gauge his projections will be tough, but I think it would be conservative to think that he and Markstrom will likely share the cage for the better part of the season and I would now push both goalies to pick up about 45 points each, taking Markstrom's projections down from 65 points.

Taking Markstrom's projections down doesn't look good for Clayton, who took him 162nd overall in the 7th round, but that's the way the cookie crumbles there.  The draft didn't see much potential in Markstrom and now that Thomas is signed on, it makes a lot of sense.