NHL Rumors: Florida Panthers to Shop Veteran Center

Heading into this season, the Florida Panthers were expected to be among the NHL's top teams. After all, they had the most amount of points in the NHL last season, but they have taken a significant step back this year. At the time of this writing, they do not hold a playoff spot, and they will be sellers at the deadline if they do heat up soon. If this does in fact occur, one pending UFA who will likely see dealt is Eric Staal.

After starting the season with zero points in his first 16 games, Staal has quietly heated up as the year has gone on, as he has 14 points in his last 21 games. Although this kind of production is not as high as his prime years, the 38-year-old center is showing that he can still be a decent point producer in a bottom-six role. As a result, he should get a decent market at the trade deadline because of it.

It will be intriguing to see if the Panthers end up moving Staal at the deadline. Playoff teams looking for a bit of secondary scoring should seriously consider the prospect of bringing him in.

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