Panthers Pulse: Mackie Samoskevich has a Golden Opportunity to Make NHL Roster

After shining with AHL Charlotte last year, Mackie Samoskevich has the chance to become a full-time NHL player with the Florida Panthers. And he has certainly put in the work.

Photo by Colby Guy

Leading up to the beginning of training camp, Pucks and Palms will be previewing each of the key pieces of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in a series called ‘Panthers Pulse’ heading into the 2024-25 season. Mackie Samoskevich is next.

2023-24 Stats: 22 goals, 54 points, 62 GP (AHL Charlotte)

In his first season of professional hockey, Mackie Samoskevich showed the Florida Panthers just how high his ceiling could be.

The 21-year-old forward flashed some high-end speed and playmaking ability both in the seven NHL games he played in last season and his 62 games with AHL Charlotte. He also added 22 goals with four of them being game-winners.

And now, with Vladimir Tarasenko gone to the Detroit Red Wings, there is an opening on the Panthers’ third line and he is the likely favorite to take it.

The Panthers gave Samoskevich a taste of NHL time last year, with the former 2021 first-round pick averaging 12:02 of time-on-ice per game in the seven games they gave him.

He played well for the most part, with his speed standing out significantly every time he was on the ice, but parts of his game needed to mature and he did just that every time he got sent back to AHL Charlotte.

His defense, in particular, needed work, but that could be worked around if he gets put on a line with one of Florida’s two excellent two-way centermen, Anton Lundell or Aleksander Barkov.

And Samoskevich has what it takes to work through that pretty quickly.

From last year’s rookie camp up until the end of the preseason, there were two things about Samoskevich that stuck out: He had a lot of confidence and he did not let anyone out-work him.

He stayed out late after every (intensely grueling) training camp practice, he went out of his way to talk to anyone he could — from the current veterans in the room to Patric Hornqvist when he was on the ice as a member of the front office — and he would take that advice to heart and keep working.

Samoskevich made sure to add his potential predecessor, Tarasenko, to that list this summer, too. He spent some time training with him and Panthers skills coach Max Ivanov this summer.

His confidence was very evident on the ice during last year’s camp, too. There was no hesitation in his game, he was very quick on his offensive reads and he was not afraid to unload his lethal shot.

If he can capture some of that at the NHL level, he will be a quality player for the Panthers.

Up Next in Panthers Pulse: Jonah Gadjovich

Previously: Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis, Anton Lundell, Sergei Bobrovsky, Spencer Knight, Aleksander Barkov, Adam Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola, Nate Schmidt, Tobias Bjornfot