DevilCanuck19 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 From The Ice Florida Panthers Ink WHL Free Agent Dryden Hunt By Cat Silverman Posted on February 27, 2016 Dryden Hunt, the leading scorer for the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, has been garnering plenty of notice around the NHL as a pending free agent once this season ends. Now, though, it looks like teams won’t get a stab at him – lost in the mayhem of trade deadline week, the Florida Panthers picked up the overager on an entry-level deal. Standing at 6 feet even and 199 lbs, Hunt – who boasts an impressive 99 points over 61 WHL regular season games this year – offers scoring ability and maturity as he comes off his final year of play in the Canadian major juniors. That’s enough for the Panthers, who inked the 20 year old prospect to his ELC earlier today. The contract went nearly unnoticed, though, as the Panthers aggressively pursued an active trade deadline from their position atop the Atlantic Division heading into the final stretch of their 2015-16 season. Rapid-fire deals to pick up wingers Jiri Hudler and Teddy Purcell, then defenseman Jakub Kindl, made the signing of a prospect – albeit a fantastic one that teams were looking to pursue – something that fell by the wayside. Although the Panthers have yet to make the deal official, Miami Herald beat reporter George Richards – who has been diligently on top of all the deadline deals, as well – broke the news of the signing just hours after TSN insider Darren Dreger suggested that a handful of NHL teams had submitted offers to the young forward. Once Hunt is finished in the CHL, he will now be eligible to join the Panthers – or one of their minor league affiliates – to finish off their regular seasons or contribute to their playoff hunts. **Too bad for the Canucks. I was really hoping they would sign him but as always Dale Tallon is right in there getting all the goods. I hope the Canucks make some good trades today to get better at least. Enjoy the trade deadline day fellow Canuck fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaBamba Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 We already have Dane Fox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaku Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Dryden is fun to watch and is an exceptional player, but he will have a lot of issues translating that same offensive prowess from his junior game to his NHL game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73 Percent Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Good for Florida. One of the few teams i dont mind seeing do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaudette Celly Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Moving on... There will be other overagers to sign, as well as some pretty decent college grads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbdoubleu Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Doubt he makes any impact at the NHL level, but you never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowgary Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Was hoping we signed him regardless if it turned into another Dane Fox. Worth the gamble, he is lighting it up with Moose Jaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukoncanuck87 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Over age CHL players rarely make the NHL so it's not much of a lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush17 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Such nice weather in Flordia lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 1 hour ago, cbdoubleu said: Doubt he makes any impact at the NHL level, but you never know. Doubt it. Dane Fox was arguably better and look where he is right now. His only chance is to pull a Burrows type situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cripplereh Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 glad we didn't waste our time on him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV77 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 FLA has a ton of good young prospects Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 On Monday, February 29, 2016 at 0:07 PM, Tortorella's Rant said: Doubt it. Dane Fox was arguably better and look where he is right now. His only chance is to pull a Burrows type situation. It is very possible that Hunt never plays an NHL game. However, to say that Fox was arguably better is a leap. In Dane Fox's career year, he was playing with Connor McDavid. His numbers soared from the previous year because of that. While Hunt isn't doing anything out of the ordinary for overagers in the AHL, thus making the likelihood of him producing at such rate in the NHL incredibly, incredibly unlikely, he has been putting up these numbers on a far inferior team with linemates nowhere near McDavid, Burakovsky, or Brown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB5 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Many overagers are probably 3-5 years from getting a sniff at the NHL if ever. I'm OK with breaking the Medicine Hat bondage anyway, some of the non-drafted college players seem to be closer to the NHL since they are usually a couple years older so I'd prefer to explore that route with the open roster spaces. Albeit, honourable mention goes to the Sauntner signing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SekaniCanuck Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 GMMG out Gm'd again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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