Veteran leader Brian Campbell may be headed to free agency rather than re-signing with the Florida Panthers, according the Miami Herald’s George Richards per general manager Tom Rowe.
While details are scarce, it’s not entirely surprising, seeing as the veteran defender has strong underlying numbers with great possession marks throughout his career. The 37-year-old posted a 5.8% score-adjusted CF%Rel this season and has a five-year low of 2.9%. Those kind of numbers could help him to get a good contract from a stats-savvy team.
He regularly pushes play in the right direction and, though his $7,142,875 cap hit might have been a bit rich, he provided a lot to the team.
If he walks away, it could be a very different blue line for Florida with the possibility that captain Willie Mitchell isn’t able to play again and the team trading Erik Gudbranson to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
Maybe this is what Mitchell gave the WTF to (it’s not).
https://twitter.com/Willie_Mitch33/status/735649353168257025