Florida Panthers Deal Lawson Crouse and Dave Bolland to Arizona Coyotes in a Salary Cap Move

The Florida Panthers dealt 2015 first round, draft pick, Lawson Crouse and Dave Bolland to the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday for a pair of draft picks. 

In the deal to give the Cats some salary cap relief, Florida received a third round pick in the 2017 National hockey League Draft and a second rounder in the 2018 NHL Draft.

Bolland, 30, was limited to 25 games for the Panthers this past season due to injuries. He managed to score one goal and four assists on the season for Florida. In his two game conditioning stint with the Panthers American Hockey League affiliate the Portland Pirates, he added an assist. 

Bolland helped the Chicago Blackhawks hoist the Stanley Cup in 2010 and 2013, even scoring the game winner at 19:01 of game six during the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins.

Bolland has three years left on his current contract, that carries an annual average salary of 5.5 million-dollars. 

Panthers general manager, Tom Rowe said, “[Assistant general managers] Steve Werier and Eric Joyce have been working the phones with the Arizona for the past few weeks and came to [President of Hockey Operations] Dale [Tallon] and I late Wednesday night, with what they felt was a fair return for the cap, contract space and picks we received.”

 

He added, “Today’s transaction creates significant cap space for us in each of the next three NHL seasons, while simultaneously giving us the ability to add more, good young players to a farm system we know we need to improve. We plan to use this cap space to continue to aggressively build on the steps we took this summer to construct a championship-caliber here in South Florida today and well into the future.”

Crouse, 19, was the Panthers first round, selection, 11^th overall, at the 2015 NHL Draft held at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. 

The six foot four, 211 pound left winger, put up 23 goals and 39 assists for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League, this past season. In two games with the Pirates, he was not able to muster any points. 

Coyotes general manager, John Chayka said, “We are very pleased to acquire Lawson. He is a big, physical, power forward who is a strong skater with good hands. Players of his caliber and profile are extremely hard to find.”