The Florida Panthers front office had indicated that they felt they needed to bring in a veteran defenseman on a professional tryout (PTO) to camp, and they’ve done just that. According to Gary Lawless, the team is bringing in veteran Adam Pardy.
former #nhljets D Adam Pardy has signed a PTO with Florida Panthers
— gary lawless (@garylawless) September 8, 2016
The 6-foot-4, 32-year-old defender split last season between the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers, amassing a total of 23 NHL contests. He scored no goals and four assists in that time with a -2.99% adjusted CF%Rel.
He has racked up 338 career NHL games since being drafted by the Calgary Flames in the sixth round of the 2003 draft. He’s a physical presence and a prototypical “stay at home” defenseman, having scored just four goals and 48 assists throughout his career.
RELATED: The Hockey Writers’ 2016 PTO Tracker
The team must feel they need another option at camp because this does not appear to be a PTO handed out because the Panthers are missing players for the World Cup. On the blue line, only Aaron Ekblad is at the best-on-best tournament.
The Panthers are coming off their best season in team history but have still seen lots of turnover on the ice and even more turnover in the front office. On the blue line, they started last season with Dmitry Kulikov, Willie Mitchell, Brian Campbell, Erik Gudbranson and Dylan Olsen, who are all gone now. In their place, they have signed Keith Yandle and Jason Demers, and traded for Mark Pysyk. It will be a very different looking defensive group with the midseason addition of Jakub Kindl and the hope that Michael Matheson is ready to be a full-time NHLer.
