You're going to be hearing a lot about the Florida Panthers between now and the end of the regular season in April.

The Cats made one of the best deals on NHL trade deadline day, acquiring Thomas Vanek from the Detroit Red Wings for a conditional third-round draft pick and defenseman Dylan McIlrath.

Here's why the deal is a big win for the Panthers:

Got him cheap

Not only did the Panthers land Vanek, a pending unrestricted free agent who has 15 goals and 38 points, they got the Red Wings to cover 50 percent of what the forward is owed for the rest of the season.

Vanek will cost the Panthers only $289,000 for the rest of the regular season, according to NHL Numbers. That's nothing for one of the more productive players who was available on the market.

The 33-year-old joins a resurgent Panthers club that only recently got healthy, seeing Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau return to the lineup after lengthy absences. A deep group up front just got deeper.

There's more: At 5-on-5, Vanek's been the fifth-most productive player this season, averaging 2.80 points per 60 minutes, trailing only Conor Sheary, Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby.

Florida had two third-round picks

(Photo courtesy: USA Today Sports)

A third-round pick isn't nothing, but the Panthers had two in the coming draft. For now, they're sending their own third-rounder to Detroit. If Florida makes the playoffs, which is clearly the club's goal, Detroit will receive Arizona's third-round pick in 2017, which Florida acquired in a trade that sent Dave Bolland and Lawson Crouse do the desert.

As for McIlrath, he played only five games for the Panthers this season, and saw fewer than 10 minutes of ice time in four of those games. He clearly wasn't part of Florida's long-term plans.

So consider it a third-round pick for Vanek, and that's a fair price for a rental player, and Florida will undoubtedly hand over Arizona's pick with a smile come spring.

Vanek produced as rental in 2014

Vanek's been through this before.

He was a trade-deadline acquisition by the Montreal Canadiens in 2014, after the New York Islanders sent him packing, and it was, for the most part, a fruitful move.

Vanek had six goals and 15 points in 18 games with the Canadiens down the stretch, playing 18:11 a game. He chipped in five goals and five assists in 17 games for the Habs in the playoffs.

While the days of Vanek logging a ton of ice time are over, he can still put the puck in the net, and he's going to have every opportunity to do so in Florida, surrounded by highly skilled players.

The Panthers won the Atlantic Division last year. They're hell bent on going back to the playoffs and winning a round this time.

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