Fantasy Impact: Florida Panthers sign forward Jonathan Marchessault to a two-year contract worth $1.5 million.
The Panthers get: an underrated small, skilled forward who gets his first one-way contract. However, at a $750,000 cap hit, Marchessault could still be buried in the minors. This was a curious signing because the Panthers are pretty deep up front and they recently traded away a young small, skilled guy in Rocco Grimaldi. Marchessault is 25 and 5-9, 174. Last season he managed just 18 points in 45 games. However, fantasy owners take note of this: When Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat were injured, Marchessault was given first-line minutes and he stepped up – eight points in eight games in late December. Overall, his production over 80 games were he to play 16 per game (instead of the 12 minutes that he got), he was approximately a 45-point player. In his AHL career he had 263 points in 306 games.
Fantasy Players Impacted: The salary here doesn't justify his knocking any wingers down the depth chart. Marchessault will only help a fantasy team if he gets onto the second line. Since that's unlikely, he's not draftable in most leagues. He'll need the help of injuries, so keep an eye on Florida's situation during training camp. On the third line he'll be good for 30 points, but if he can move up he could surprise. So an injury to Jonathan Huberdeau, Jaromir Jagr, Jussi Jokinen or Reilly Smith would give him that shot. But the situation with the Panthers is more promising than it was with the Lightning.
Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
1. Marchessault (game logs, fancy stats, line combos here)
Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:
Only prospects trying to make the team, such as Jayce Hawryluk (profile here), Lawson Crouse (profile here), Kyle Rau (profile here), and Connor Brickley (profile here)