Many people are questioning the Florida Panthers' management team after
The Athletic's Craig Custance reported that the Panthers 2016 second round pick Adam Mascherin has chosen to look elsewhere to start his career.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet chimed in on his
31 Thoughts saying the reason for Mascherin's decision not to sign with Florida was at least in part due to bad communication.
12. The Panthers are trying to trade 2016 second-rounder Adam Mascherin of OHL Kitchener. A 40-goal scorer for the Rangers, he informed Florida he would not sign there before he can re-enter the draft in June. It’s unfortunate, as it appears there was some broken telephone that made things worse than they needed to be. This will not be easy for the Panthers, since interested teams won’t want to give up something if they think they can just draft him in three months. Their best hope is that someone who lacks draft choices where Mascherin might be taken decides it really wants him.
All of this can be traced back to training camp in September 2017 when Mascherin told Scott Wheeler at
The Athletic that he hadn't heard from anyone in the Panthers organization, and wasn't invited to training camp.
When we take all three of these takes, it seems as though Dale Tallon and the Panthers staff failed to communicate with one of their top prospects. One gets the sense that he was very unhappy with the way he had been treated and wants to find an organization that will do right by him.
However, Matthew DeFranks of the Sun Sentinel, Brower County of Florida's daily newspaper,
wrote a piece on Adam Mascherin on December 15, 2017. In this piece, it actually refers to the relationship between the second round pick and the Panthers.
Mascherin has 10 goals during his seven-game goal streak, and has three multi-goal games this season. But he contends that he got off to a slow start, and reached out to the Panthers and director of player personnel Bryan McCabe for help.
“They just said ‘Relax and play your game,’” Mascherin said. “The points will come, but it’s more about just working on your overall game.’ And I feel like I’ve done a good job of doing that, taking their advice from the start of the year.”
Mascherin said he talks with the Panthers about once a week and had dinner with McCabe on Monday night.
“Or if I have questions, I reach out myself, right?” Mascherin said. “We’ve had a good relationship so far this year.”
Mascherin can play in the AHL when Kitchener’s season ends, but he hasn’t signed an entry-level contract with the Panthers yet. If he’s not signed by next June, he could reenter the draft. Mascherin did not seem concerned about that.
“They want to make sure that they’re making an investment in the right person and the right player,” Mascherin said. “However much time they think they need, things will work out for the best, regardless of what happens. I’m not really too worried about that.
“Whether you sign a piece of paper today or tomorrow or next month, it’s not going to make me a better player. Just focus on finishing my year out strong.”
This doesn't sound like a player still upset about not being invited to training camp in the fall. Is it possible that his decision to not sign with Florida and re-enter the draft more to do with leverage over hurt feelings? While Friedman speculates there was a "broken telephone", Mascherin freely admits that he's talking to the team every week, meeting in person with their director of player personnel, and that he reached out for help earlier in the season when he felt like he was struggling.
Could Mascherin still sign in Florida? Yes. Attitudes and circumstances can always change. Perhaps this debacle has more to do with money. Could it be that the Kitchener Rangers top scorer wasn't getting the kind of contract offer he felt he deserved? Like anyone in his position, Mascherin was probably hoping for a large incentive package to go along with his contract.
In no way is this an indictment on Mascherin in the sense that this is within his rights. If he wants to create a market for himself and drive up his price, he's able to do so. Since any team trading for him would still have to sign him before June 1 or risk having him re-enter the draft, there will most likely need to be a deal in place before any trade. This gives Mascherin tremendous leverage to pick and choose his potential landing spot.
This does create an internal problem for Cats. Let's say Mascherin ends up signing with the Panthers, and gets the bonuses he's potentially seeking. Does this not tell any other prospect in their system that simply holding out will result in more money? Now what if Florida trades him to a team willing to give up assets for him and give him the contract he wants? This will also indicate to other prospects that it doesn't matter who drafts them, ultimately they can manipulate the system to go wherever there may be an interest.
Florida's long-term, best bet is to continue to keep lines of communication open with Mascherin's camp, but any contract offer needs to be comparable to other players in similar positions. They should not pay him like he's a top five pick. If Macherin chooses to re-enter the draft, he could be taken later than he was in 2016. The team that would've drafted him his second time, would again, have all the leverage in a contract negotiation.
If Dale Tallon and the Panthers want to avoid future situations like this one, they should not give in to Mascherin's threats. That isn't to say they should write him off. He's 19-years-old, he can easily change his mind. Sign him or let him walk because the long-term benefit of the third or fourth round pick that Florida could acquire for Mascherin's rights, will not compare to the standard that would be set for prospects to come.
Florida Panthers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»