from Matthew DeFranks of the SunSentinel,

The Panthers certainly have the cap space to make a run at major free agents this summer. They ended the season with $6.86 million of cap space and are projected to have $9.03 million of space next season. That doesn’t include an expected league-wide bump in the salary cap that would give teams more room to maneuver.

But last summer brought rumblings of an internal cap that contributed to the departures of Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault to Vegas.

So do the Panthers have the means to pursue major free agents this summer?

“I would say yes, we do,” Tallon said. “We’ve identified and we like certain players. We have it in our budget. We’re going to do what we can to improve our team.”

more