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In trying to create maximum cap space so that he could sign both Sergei Bobrovsky and Artemi Panarin, did Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon suddenly find himself in a game of Russian Roulette?

If so, given he was prepared to go all out for Panarin’s services, it would seem lost.

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You may recall that days ahead of the opening of free agency, Roberto Luongo did something that nearly no other player signed to a so-called back-diving contract has done. He retired, officially.

It has been suggested in these pages that Luongo’s retirement being official was a team-driven preference. There was a need to create as much cap room as possible and while the Panthers would still incur a cap-recapture penalty if Luongo were to officially retire instead of doing what others have been doing for years — failing their training camp physical and being paid out the remainder of their salary, while living out life on long-term injury reserve — that penalty would be much less than the cap hit his contract was costing the Panthers.