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Is Sergei Bobrovsky in his final Florida Panthers days?

With the trade deadline approaching, the reports are mixed

Ethan J. Skolnick

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It's been quite a ride, sometimes rocky but more often exhiliarating, for Sergei Bobrovsky as a Florida Panther.

Signed to a seven-year, $70 million contract by the previous Panther regime, "Bob" didn't get off to the best start, and was booed at times early in his tenure. But he turned it around, winning over the local fans by backstopping the franchise on its run to three Stanley Cup Finals, the last two of which it won.

This season has been much more of a struggle, however, as the absence of two-way standout Sasha Barkov and several others has put more of a burden on Bobrovsky, and he has consistently come up short. His save percentage is the lowest of his career, by far, and his goals against average is his second-higher, just a bit better than his first Panthers season.

Now 37, without a contract for next season and with the Panthers almost certain to miss the playoffs, he's been one of the most-discussed players in the NHL prior to Friday's trade deadline.

What will the Panthers do?

Sign him? Trade him? Do nothing now?

There doesn't seem to be a consensus as the clock winds down.

Montreal, San Jose, even Edmonton have been floated by national reporters as possible landing spots, should the Panthers move ahead with a trade. This has been the case even though Bobrovsky has a no-trade list that may include some of the mentioned teams, since it's more than half the league. Sixteen teams in all.

There have been plenty of reports about Bobrovsky's contract negotations with the Panthers, and whether his representatives are feeding the trade rumor frenzy to get a better deal out of Florida, even if it's a short one.

Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet and NHL Network has been reporting that the Panthers are willing to trade Bobrovsky, while noting that the goalie has some control. And he's pushed the premise that Carolina and San Jose, in particular, would make sense.

Friedman also noted that "Vegas has really had rough goaltending this season."

"I think Florida is considering it," Friedman said. "The player has some control. I don't think it's impossible that between now and 3pm Eastern Friday that we get a Bobrovsky move, I think it's absolutely going to be explored."

Friedman even speculated that Bobrovsky could be traded, and could back.

Panthers GM Bill Zito has never been afraid of bold moves. We will see what happens here.

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Ethan J. Skolnick
ETHAN J. SKOLNICK

Ethan is the CEO of Five Reasons Sports Network, based in South Florida and manages the OnSI sites for the Florida Panthers, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks. Previously, he wrote for all the major newspapers in South Florida as well as Bleacher Report, and was an afternoon drive radio host. He has a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. from Columbia University.

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