This move SAVES the Panthers season...

The Florida Panthers trading for Dylan Larkin saves their season after the Florida Panthers are currently dealing with multiple injuries around this team. Barkov being out for six to eight weeks, Marchand going down with an injury last night, and Luster Reinen coming back into the game after leaving and going to the dressing room. There is three key injuries here in Florida, and today we're going to talk about why Dylan Larkin solves their problem and is a great person to trade for to keep their stock in this Atlantic Division, because if you fall this season, you will not get into the playoffs. So we're going to break everything down coming up on this episode, NHL Digest before we dive into everything here. Just want to say, we're on the road for 20,000 subscribers here on the channel, so if you're new here, you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the Florida Panthers and their trade situation and the entire league, we are home for it here on YouTube. So down below, hit that subscribe button, it is completely free to do so. But with that said, we've got to dive right into this Larkin trade today, because last night was a terrible night for the Florida Panthers and their fan base. As Marchand goes hard into the net and is holding and clutching his knee on the ground and goes off the ice, which looks like we could have seen the end of Marchand's career last night. I hope that's not the case, and I hope we do get to see him come back because he's been such a great player over these last 10, 15 years, however long he's been playing. So hopefully we can see him come back healthy, and obviously starting the year with Barkov going down, blowing out his knee, and luckily he doesn't need surgery and he'll be back in a timeline of six to eight weeks, but for right now, you cannot afford to drop these games because two key players are out. You need to go out and make a move to save your season and to try to win another Stanley Cup. So let's dive right into everything today. First we just gotta talk about, obviously Florida's injuries open a Larkin window for sure, and right now their top center with Barkov out is Anton Lundell, and right now Larkin has better stats than Lundell, has more points per game, has more goals per game, has more shots on goal per game. So it makes sense to get this upgrade on Lundell with Larkin to play on this top line and just create some scoring chances for this team going forward, and why act now for the Florida Panthers? We kind of just talked about it. Florida makes Larkin's list, I mean he opens up his list to include Florida for a trade so he'll move his claws to go there. Barkov faces rehab, he's gonna be out for a while, and Marshawn leaves the game last night. So this is why the timeline of events leading up to why Larkin should be a Florida Panther, he wants to come here, he wants to win in Florida, and he wants to get out of Detroit. And for Florida, they kind of need someone to give them a little bit of life while their key players are out. Obviously they still got the Kachunk brothers, but they do still need a first line center and a speedy first line center and a guy who can win a lot of face-offs in Dylan Larkin for sure. And we kind of look at Paul Maurice kind of saying, yeah, he'll be looked at on Thursday. I think he's talking about Marshawn in this quote, just kind of saying, yeah, it was tough to see him go down last night. We'll have more on Thursday and have an update for you. So stay tuned for that as well. Thursday's gonna be a big day for the Florida Panthers, because if it's ruled that Marshawn is out for a long time, I definitely think they will be looking to make some moves happen to try to fill these holes. And I think Dylan Larkin is probably the main piece in that. And obviously we kind of look at the injury picture here for the Florida Panthers. Barkov has been out 68 weeks, Marshawn leaves the game. Doesn't really know how long he's going to be out loose to run and return after an injury scare in the game. But no assumption of a season ending absence as yet for the Florida Panthers. So knock on wood, Florida Panthers fans, because we do not want a season ending injury for any of these players. But getting Dylan Larkin in now helps you for the now, because if you start dropping games over these next eight weeks where Barkov is out, it's going to be a tough hill to climb in this Atlantic division, because there's so many good teams in it this year. So you really need to make something happen now to make you win games. And getting Dylan Larkin is definitely the best way to go. We just kind of see Dylan Larkin offers more than just injury cover. He's a guy who can come in and be, you know, a second line center when Barkov returns for sure. Look, his shots are up a game, his goals a game are up as well as faceoffs are up as well. A great faceoff taker. Very fast as well. And his giveaways are down, which I think is good. He's not giving away the puck more. So I definitely think Larkin is the guy to go out and get to fill this hole in this roster and to really give you guys a fighting chance of competing to get one of the top three spots in the Atlantic division this year. And just looking, Larkin comes signed for five more seasons, including this one. So you know, he gets, you know, you get him here, sign up for a little bit of long term 8.7 million with the raising cap is a really good deal. Obviously, what is he like, 29 or 30 at this point and signs him through, you know, kind of the end of his career. And I think that he wants to be in Florida because he sees a future here and sees that they can win another cup now with adding Brady and adding some of these key pieces that they did over this offseason. And yeah, so that's why I think Larkin is going to be their trade target target because right now the two big names floating around are Edmondson and obviously Larkin. And Larkin is a center and an offensive piece that this team needs. They don't really need defense at this point. So going out and getting Larkin is the best way to go about things. And we just kind of take a look at what Larkin's role would be in Florida, lead the scoring line while Barkoff recovers, add another established power play option for them as well. He remains a top six center when Barkoff returns and Bennett gives Maurice another matchup option. So obviously, you kind of have, you know, three guys here when Barkoff returns that after this Larkin trade. But you also, you know, in the meantime, you kind of have a good one-two punch with Larkin and Bennett as well. And so I think that would be a great way to go about it for the Florida Panthers for sure. Obviously, you're probably going to have to give up a little bit to get this guy. And I think Florida Panthers fans will not like the mock that we're going to show, which is going to come up in just a second. But like I said, this will be his role in Florida. So let's just take a look at Anton Lundell anchors our Larkin proposal for sure. So just kind of looking at this trade proposal, we do have obviously Larkin ending up in Florida and then going to Detroit. It's going to be Anton Lundell, Nico Mikola, Owen Sachin, and a second round pick for going back to Detroit. This is a lot, but Detroit is going to need a lot to bring Larkin to Florida. Obviously, he's a great player in this league, one of the best centers in this league or was. I mean, I still think he has a lot to give. He had a great season last year, and he's a guy who can come in here, get you 80, potentially 90 points in Florida. So I definitely think you want to take that opportunity and give up this amount for him. Obviously, there is a lot of some questions around this trade we're going to talk about in a bit. But looking at Lundell, obviously, he's signed for five more years, 25 years old will be a great piece for Detroit going forward for a guy who can come in, play first line immediately. And he's a young player that kind of fits the mold of this team for sure. And also Niko Mikula, he's 30 years old, signed for five years as well, five million. He does have a no trade clause, though, so he could waive that clause and not come to Detroit. And then I think in that instance, I do think that Rakko Gudis, who is unprotected with no move clauses or anything, I would be would come back in this trade or maybe they would add another young piece, maybe like a Bill Maness or, you know, maybe another pick. But I don't think Mikula is going to be the thing that moves the needle here. I definitely think it's going to be Lundell. But this is kind of our offer. Just barring he moves this clause, he would come to Detroit here. But like I said, obviously, we kind of just take a look at Detroit's returns. Lundell is a younger NHL center to build around for this team. Obviously, Mikula has established a fending with sustained term on his contract. Sachin is developing forward with the Charlotte Checkers, so he could be a guy that comes up in this bottom six for this team and then an acquired second round pick adds future value and no retained salary on Larkin, which I think is what they're looking for in a deal like this. And we just gave Florida must solve the cap and consent to make this kind of deal work. But like I said, Gudis and Bill Maness would also be great secondary pieces and looking at Florida's cap after trading for Larkin, they only are one million one point one million over. So if, you know, Merchant has to go on IR, the cap, they don't have to worry about the cap at all. All it takes is sending somebody down to the minors here for the cap to work. So I don't think it is, you know, too much to make the cap work. Obviously, when Barkoff recurrent returns, we'll bet one be the when the cap situation would be different. But I do think, obviously, we could just trade some big cap eater off this team and make it work there because having Barkoff and Larkin on the same team would just absolutely be filthy. And these guys would, I think, be the favorites to go win another Stanley Cup here in Florida. But just kind of looking here, the conditions that had to be met for this deal to go through. We kind of talked about him a little bit already. Mikla has agreed to waive his no movement clause. But like I said, I do think that him, you know, he is in the needle mover here. Obviously, we could add Bill Maness or we could add some more picks to kind of make this deal work. You know, Larkin has to formally approve Florida, which, you know, I think is a formality at this point. Detroit accepts Mikla's long term commitment when he's 30 years old, five years, 35. I think that's fine as well. Florida verifies its live cap and replacement costs. So they kind of had to worry about what the costs would look like when Barkoff comes back. But as we all know, with Florida and teams like Vegas, they always find a way to make the cap work. And I definitely think they can make the cap work in this situation for sure. And we kind of just see Steve Eisman says he cannot make any guarantees about trading Larkin. But, you know, I think if this deal did come across his table, this is one that he would be able to accept for sure. And if you just kind of look at the price beyond Lundell for Florida, it's kind of like Florida loses a regular defenseman as well as its center Sachin and the pick reduce future options. A replacement defenseman uses some salary savings. But the big these are a lot of the cons. But the big pros here is you're adding a true first line center and Larkin to play second line when Barkoff comes back. So I definitely think the pros of Larkin's offense are better than the cons in this situation and just kind of looking at how he fits here during Larkin changes for the center mix for sure. And we just kind of see here, you know, take a look at these early lines that we're kind of concocting here with Barkoff out. We could see Larkin up with Kachuk and Marchand if he isn't out, if Marchand is out, then we could obviously see him centering the two Kachuk brothers, which will be disgusting having Larkin who's fast with these two gritty Kachuk brothers, I think would be a dominant line going forward. And then I just kind of really like this trade for Florida, to be honest with you. Obviously, your defense defense does kind of take a hit here, but, you know, it doesn't really look too bad, in my opinion, Kulikov just kind of plays the left side here is natural side and, you know, just kind of shift things around here, which I don't mind. I definitely think this Florida team looks a lot better than with Lundell centering this top line with Marchand and Barkoff out. So I think getting him in just for his office, offense and goal scoring output alone is definitely something Florida needs to go in this tough language division. I'm going to keep saying it because it is very tough and looking at the new Detroit kind of team. We have Lundell centering Irvingson and Raymond. So I think Lundell is another guy who's a great two way center in this league. He can definitely be a first line center at 25 years old in the prime of his career playing with the guys like Raymond and Cider and all these guys who are around the same age as him. Definitely works. And we see Mikulov playing up with Cider. I think Mikulov would be a great pairing for him, or if it is Gutis or something like this, Gutis would be a great pairing for Cider as well. It can kind of lean more into his offensive ability with these defensemen on his left side. So I kind of really like this. And I think this is the best option for Florida right now to go out, make a move, solve all their problems by bringing in Dylan Larkin. So would you pay this price for Dylan Larkin if you're a Florida Panthers fan? Yes. Maximize the current window and try to win now. Try to make it back to the playoffs because if you sacrifice this time with Barkov and potentially Marchand out, even for eight weeks, you fall way behind the eight ball, you lose games, and then you have to claw your way back into this Atlantic pitcher, which again is very, very competitive this year, and you really can't afford to lose games in this division this year. And obviously, you know, you want to keep Lindell in the depth or only with the lower price. Would you rather see Mikala taken out of this and put in, you know, maybe a guy like Gutis or maybe a guy like Vilmanis to get this deal over the line? Maybe you want to up the price of picks. Maybe you throw a couple of first in this instead of a second. Let me know what you guys think about this mock trade. What do you think about the trade? Let me know down below in the comments section. Do you agree with this trade? Do you think they should go out and make this move to save their season? Because I really think it would save their season at this point. So let me know what you guys think. Download the comment section while you're down there. Leave a like. Subscribe to the channel. As always, I'm your host, KC. Keep your stick on the ice.