Florida Panthers to Make Final Cuts on Monday; What Could Opening Night Lineup Look Like?

The Florida Panthers are set to cut down to their final 23-man roster by 5 p.m. on Monday. What could their opening night lineup look like?

With the NHL’s deadline to submit 23-men rosters looming, the Florida Panthers will have to cut down to their final opening-night roster by 5 p.m. on Monday.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions sent Sandis Vilmanis to AHL Charlotte this morning and will likely send the waiver eligible Patrick Giles back after not waiving Chris Driedger or Mackenzie Entwistle.

Giles and Spencer Knight are the two lone players who can be sent to AHL Charlotte without going through waivers.

After skating as an extra in practice and the fourth line appearing to consist of Jonah Gadjovich, Jesper Boqvist and A.J. Greer, Giles could be the one on the move.

“Patty won’t be a player here who watches games because he doesn’t have to,’’ Maurice said. “He had a very, very good camp. The last decisions will be difficult in some ways, but as we all have the confines of a salary cap and waiverable players. A lot of that just becomes the logistically smart things for teams to do.’’

UPDATE: Both Giles and Knight were sent to AHL Charlotte.

Here is what the opening night roster projects to be as the Panthers reach the 5 p.m. deadline to make their final cuts.

FORWARDS (13):

Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Sam Reinhart

Evan Rodrigues - Sam Bennett - Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Mackie Samoskevich

Jonah Gadjovich - Jesper Boqvist - A.J. Greer

MacKenzie Entwistle

DEFENSE (7):

Gustav Forsling - Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola - Uvis Balinskis

Dmitry Kulikov - Adam Boqvist

Nate Schmidt

GOALTENDERS (2):

Sergei Bobrovsky

Chris Driedger

This is a developing story that will be updated when new information becomes available. Check back after 5 p.m. for the official 23-man roster.