Yandle Lands On His Feet in Florida

It looks like the New York Rangers will get that conditional 4th round draft pick next year after all.  The Florida Panthers announced on Wednesday night, that they have inked defenseman Keith Yandle, who they acquired the rights of in a deal with the Rangers earlier in the week.  That deal was for one pick and a conditional pick, if he had signed... well, the deal is done.

Yandle, 29, signed a 7-year deal, $44.45 million deal on Wednesday, giving him the highest cap hit on the team for the foreseeable future in Sunrise.  This works out to be $6.35 million cap hit per season, which is a top 50 hit in the NHL today, a very sizable number indeed.  Of course, this deal will also include a no-movement clause, which will now play into any expansion draft talks, with Las Vegas on the horizon.

It was a decent 2016 for Yandle in the Big Apple, where he finished 141st overall in pool scoring, 16th among all defensemen, scoring 5 goals and 47 points in all 82 games.  His offensive talents will join the likes of Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov to form a fairly dynamic trio.  The assembly of this Panthers team is coming along quite smoothly.

As for the cap, the big hit gets the team out from under the floor, by my projections, which only sits at 16 players right now.  The Panthers have about $13.4 million left in space to use for seven spaces and there are some good entry-level players that could still make the jump up for next season.

We're getting the feeling that the Panthers will have a pretty good push next season.