A surprise team is getting ready to offer Alex Pietrangelo a massive contract!

The Alex Pietrangelo sweepstakes have started and since it was released the Blues told their captain to head to market, two teams have been leading the media race. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights. Turns out Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet thinks one other team is worth watching out for.

Friedman on 31 Thoughts wonders about the Florida Panthers and Alex Pietrangelo. Mentions how Florida has thrown money at UFAs before and they'd like to develop their own players, but AP is too hard not to look at. They want to change their identity and Pietrangelo def. does that
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) September 26, 2020

While the Panthers may be kicking themselves in the ass for the money they handed over to Sergei Bobrovsky, Friedman thinks they would be willing to open their vault again and offer the bag to Alex Pietrangelo. An Aaron Ekblad/Alex Pietrangelo as your top-4 RHD's would be quite the set up for the next 5 years. Or more for that matter.

The Panthers currently have over $20 million in cap space and are going to have to find ways to create offense as the team is expected to lose Mike Hoffman and Evgeni Dandonov to free-agency.

Adding it from the back-end may be their best option.