Panthers' Uvis Balinskis Named Alternate Captain For Team Latvia
Team Latvia has named Florida Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis an alternate captain at the 2026 Olympics.
Video Transcript
Well, I looked at their roster, and in terms of selling, there's not much to sell unless they're gonna trade players who have one year left in their contracts, like, Evan Rodrigues or Luostarinen, and those players are valuable depth players.
I mean, I think, I think Bill Zito is looking at the fact that we lost our captain, we lost our best winger for half a season.
ah, you know, w- we've lost a couple defensemen, one who was our best defensive defenseman in Seth Jones.
I mean, this is just not our year, and you've basically played the equivalent of four seasons over the last three years with the deep playoff runs, the three Stanley Cup finals.
You write this, you write this season off, maybe you trade off guys like Jeff Petry and, Luke Kunin, and, you know, for mid-round draft picks, but you're not gonna get any significant draft capital, and I don't think with their cap situation c- you can really add.
all I can say is the Chicago Blackhawks are rooting for the p- Florida Panthers to go to the bottom because they have their first round pick from the Spencer Knight deal.
So, it's paying off for them and, with, with a number one goalie and a high draft pick.
But, I mean, you should be satisfied, Florida.
You got two Stanley Cups, and they're gonna compete for a Stanley Cup next year when they're fully healthy.
Adam, what do you think that the Panthers should do at the deadline here?
I mean, just kind of if, you know, you have, like Mike said, if you have those veterans that are on expiring deals, just sell them off.
But yeah, there's nothing wrong with just saying, "You know what?
This wasn't our year.
We still have one of the deepest cores in the NHL when we're healthy."
And also remember, like, you got a bunch of guys go to the, going to the Olympics, right?
Like, they're gonna be exhausted when they come back.
So I don't think there's anything wrong with just saying, "You know what?
We had three runs.
We won two Cups.
Like, we have to take a, a step back for one year."
I think that's fine.
Like, you know, it, it The question is, what happens next year?
Like, are the players able to come back fully healthy?
Like, will the whole off-season give them a rest?
Like, an extra month off, an extra two months off could be massive, and we could definitely see the Florida Panthers, regain their form, next season if they have enough time off in the summer.
