This just revealed a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY...

This opened a golden opportunity for the Florida Panthers. Connor Hellebuck, all the rumors about him wanting to be traded out of Winnipeg, they're actually true. We're going to talk about what are the Florida Panthers' odds of actually landing him. Can they pull off another stunner? We're going to get into that on this episode of Panthers Digest. I'm your host Greg Andrews. Comment, like, share, subscribe, hype the video. Appreciate everybody tuning in, supporting me, and supporting the Florida Panthers. I hope you've been liking the episodes lately. We're inching closer to training camp. That first game is a month away, guys. The season, you can just feel it. I can't wait. So what are we going to talk about today? Well, Connor Hellebuck has come out finally and said, yeah, I actually do want to be traded. And behind closed doors for the last several months, I said back in June that I wanted to be traded. I now am coming out in the open and saying I do want to be traded. There is nothing about this as being just rumor. It is 100% true. So he wants out. The question is, where is it going to go? How much is it going to cost a team to get arguably one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, in the world for that matter? It's very, very interesting. So let's take a look at Connor Hellebuck's numbers and compare them to, well, our starter, Jacob Marstrom. Let's take a look. So this is 2024 for Connor Hellebuck and his numbers. A very good year. 63 games played, 92.5% save percentage, excuse me. 47 wins, 12 losses, 3 overtime losses, 2 goal against average, 125 goals against, 8 shootouts that he had to be in there, ranked number one. I mean, he's just a stud. Now look at Marstrom from 2024. His numbers, well, let's just put it this way. Not terrible, but pretty good. 900 save percentage, 26 wins, 16 losses, 6 overtime losses, not playing on the greatest of teams, 2.5 goals against average. Like I said, he's not on a team at the time with the Devils that had massive star power in front of him. Tremendous defense, no. But numbers are not terrible to say the least. Now let's fast forward to the following season. Here is Connor Hellebuck. These are his numbers from last year. 57 games played. I mean, the guy's a workhorse. But an 8.95% save percentage, 23 wins, 23 losses, 11 overtime losses, 286 goals against average. Everything went way up. But I could say the same thing about Marstrom that I said, sorry, I could say the same thing about him that I said about Marstrom. You know, the team in front of him isn't the greatest, especially in the defensive side of things. Who is in front of him does make a massive deal. So let's take a look at Marstrom's numbers from last year. Remember that 8.95% save percentage there? Well, 8.83%. Yes, it's down. 307 goals against average, not the greatest. Only 44 games played, 23 wins, 19 losses, 1 overtime loss. You could see the difference in these two guys. Absolutely, Connor Hellebuck is without a doubt better. But he also still has five years left on a contract that he got an extension to a couple of years ago. And he's making over $8 million a year. I think it's $8.5 or $8.75 million. It's a lot. Yes, I understand between our two net minors, we are paying them $8 million. Marstrom's getting six of that. Schmid is getting two. This is the thing I'm going to be very open about. The Florida Panthers do not have a lot of assets to trade. I would say at least ones that they're willing to give away in a trade, they don't have a lot of them left. If we're going to try to get a trade for Connor Hellebuck, you're going to have to give up Marstrom 100%, especially to make the money work, because we only have $35,000 in capital. $35,000. That's it. Not $375,000, not $3 million, $35,000. That's it. So Marstrom would have to be moved, and you're pretty damn sure we'd have to give up Lundell. And you already see here, we don't have a lot of draft picks. What, you give up your 2030 draft pick, essentially? But I know there's that little asterisk there, because with other trades that we have, and depending on how the team does and all that stuff, I mean, it's protected and may not be protected. We'll see. We'll see. But not a lot of trade assets there for draft picks. And now let's look at our team. I'm going to go to a bigger spot here so you guys can really see this. So defensively, these are the guys that we have. I don't see us wanting to get rid of any one of these guys. Kulikov's got a couple of years left. Belinskis, same thing. Gudis ain't going anywhere. He just signed a long-term deal. Miklas signed a deal. I mean, I don't see anyone going anywhere except for Marstrom on that list. But even then, him and Lundell is not going to be enough. I mean, Hellebuck is such a phenomenal goaltender. They're going to want a lot. I mean, you're going to see first-round picks galore, and at least a solid, one at least very, very, very solid player, and then another that probably is, you know, mid-line, like third, fourth liner, or a second defensive pairing, or maybe a great prospect, or a decent goaltender. And then here are our forwards and centers. We're not going to give up any of these guys. No way. You're going to really trade away Anton Lundell and Luster and, I mean, come on. This team, we are good to go. Let's not get too worried about, oh my god, our goal team. But now that Conrad Hellebuck has come out and said he wants out, we should take a run. There is no way this Florida Panthers team is going to take a run at him this season. And the reason why is because if they were going to take a run at him, something would have been done already. Now that we're hearing he has requested a trade behind closed doors months ago, don't you think the Florida Panthers and Bill Zito looked into it already, tried to make something happen, and it's just not there. That's why they ended up getting Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmeid was because it just wasn't going to happen. There wasn't enough for them to be able to give up to get a guy like Hellebuck. Instead, they pulled the trigger, got Brady Kachuck, who is a phenomenal move by Bill Zito. And again, I think we need to be patient, just see what happens with Markstrom, with Schmeid. And you know a guy who agrees with me on, well, if the Florida Panthers were going to make a move on Hellebuck, it would have been done already. Well, that's Florida Hockey Now's George Richards. He said this, a Florida Panther trade for Conrad Hellebuck would have been done already. And I agree. It's very simple, guys. The Panthers would have pulled the trigger on something already in the last probably three months. Let's say two to three months. They would have already made a move for him. Or we would have heard that, yeah, they tried to make a trade, but it ultimately fizzled out because the Jets wanted too much. Whatever. But there's nothing. I hate to say it. Unfortunately, we're probably not going to see him in a Panthers sweater this season or the following season. Both of our net mounders have two years. I think after that two years, it could be interesting to see where Hellebuck ends up at whatever point that he gets traded. Where is he going to be? How is the team going to do? Because what can happen is when Bill Zito sees that both of our goaltenders are done, the contracts have reached their maturity, that could open the door for, hey, let's try to go after Hellebuck, especially because he's going to have three years left on his contract. And if he's not happy on the team that he's on, or they're not doing well, or he's not playing well, whatever it is, they can try to make a move for him. But that remains to be seen. We're talking hypotheticals now in the future and whatever, but they're not going to go after him, guys. It's plain and simple. There's no trade assets. There's nobody that the Panthers want to give up to get Conrad Hellebuck. They like the way the team is stacked up. They like all their lines. They like defensive pairings. They know that they have something in net that's going to work. So that's pretty much it, guys. There's nothing else for me to say about this, except I'm not going to close the door on it. Like I said, by any means, there's no way that we could ever say the Florida Panthers are not going to go after any player in the NHL, because Bill Zito in that front office can make any deal happen at any time. Brady Kachuk coming here, unbelievable move by Bill Zito. I didn't really think that one was going to happen even when I rumored about it during the end of the season. At that point, I was saying, you know, hey, don't rule out Brady Kachuk coming here. I think he does want out. Brad Marchand coming here. I mean, come on, guys. I don't need to keep going in about like all the guys that he's picked up and the magic that he's been able to do. So anyways, guys, that's it for this episode of Panthers Digest. Let me know what you think down below. Do you think the Cats should take a stab at Conor Hellebook? Or don't touch him. Let's just see what happens. Stick with the team we got. I, again, think our goaltending is going to be better than people believe. A lot better, because the team that surround him in front, the team members that are in front of him, excuse me, his teammates, are significantly better on the Panthers than what Markstrom had as a devil. And same thing with Akira Schmid. This team is better. So anyways, that's it. Again, comment down below. Let me know what you think. And guys, I'll talk to you later. And sorry about the lighting, too. I'm on the road again. But anyways, that's it. Talk to you guys later. Go Cats!