NHL trade rumors have been going around that the Florida Panthers are quietly shopping Alexsander Barkov.
Frank Seravelli of TSN is reporting that a number of teams have made inquiries to GM Bill Zito over the last number of weeks to check out Barkov’s availability.
The reason teams are calling is because they’re skeptical that Barkov will re-sign with the Panthers when his contract expires in 18 months.
The Panthers have made the playoffs just twice in Barkov’s career and they haven’t made it out of the first round. A trade likely won’t happen any time soon, but it’ll be something to monitor, especially if the Panthers struggle this season.
Barkov is quoted as saying, “It’s all good… I want to stay here. I want to win here.” Barkov has been skating between Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair at practices recently, which is how the team will probably start the regular season on Sunday.Â
