Panthers Training Camp Notebook: Same Grind, New Beginnings; Samoskevich Sidelined

The Florida Panthers kicked off training camp the same way they have the past two years — grinding hard and keeping it simple. More on that, plus injury updates and an early look at potential lines.

Photo by Colby Guy

The Florida Panthers began training camp the same way they did the past two years — grinding for pucks in the corner and skating their hearts out.

That’s how they won the Cup after all.

Every puck battle from the past two years of training camp flashed through the minds of Panthers players as they jammed the puck in the corner in the final seconds of their Game 7 victory.

They carried those final moments with them throughout the offseason as they trained to put themselves through this again. And they were sure to be ready for it, because that same training camp that they credited for those moments was not going to get any easier.]

“Our first four practice days will be the exact same practice we’ve ran for the past two years. It will also be focused on our four major defensive systems, and in order to do that, they’re going to have to work hard. That’s the whole point,” Maurice said. “This year, you’re always looking for the differences and the potential fall off in each year. And it didn’t happen.

“The opposite is true. These guys are even fitter. We know that now by the numbers. The returning guys are fitter than they were last year and last year they were fitter than the day before. … We still have lots of room. We have to feel that we can get better. The foundation of what we’re doing has not changed and we want to cement that right at the start as the single most important thing that we do.”

That was a concept Panthers coach Paul Maurice wrestled with while putting together his plan for the video portion of this year’s training camp. He wanted to take away the good stuff from that playoff run without spending too much time reminiscing about it.

“We would be strategic on how much positive video [we show,]” Maurice said. “They didn’t make a mistake last week, so there’s no negative video from our games last week. So, all of the video can be more instructional. First, we want the best teaching clips where we’re in a situation with the greatest amount of pressure. Tie games, third period games. This is the execution of this play. This is the result of it.

“I showed them a handful of goals, they were all net-drive goals. They were all really critical goals. … Drive the net, shoot the puck, keep it simple. And that’s what days 1-4 mean. I’m aware that I’m not going to need to show any pump-up video because that’s happening on Instagram, that’s happening at the banner raising and it’s going to be presented by other people.”

Samoskevich sidelined with lower-body injury, has ‘big’ camp ahead

Mackie Samoskevich will miss the first three days of camp as well as the preseason-opening double-header on Sunday with what Maurice calls a “minor” lower-body injury.

He is skating on his own and is likely to re-join the team for practice on Tuesday.

“We’re not worried about it and we don’t want it getting worse because this is an important training camp for him,” Maurice said. “We expect him to be back full on Tuesday. He is going to IR skate today, tomorrow and Saturday, we got the game Sunday, he will skate full-on heavy on our off day and then we expect him back in practice full-contact.”

The 21-year-old forward is looking to snag a full-time spot on the Panthers roster after a standout season with AHL Charlotte last season. And even despite the setback, the Florida brass believes he has what it takes to seize the opportunity.

“There are opportunities,” Maurice said. “He had a really good first year pro, we have a lot of faith in the young man as a player, and as you saw today, we have a number of other players that are going to compete for that job. So, there is competition, but we have faith that he can grab it.”

Lines, Lines, Lines

Early on in camp, the Panthers flashed bits and pieces of what their opening night lineup could look like.

Here are all of the combinations from Day 1 of training camp featuring NHLers:

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart

Rodrigues-Bennett-Tkachuk

Luostarinen-Lundell-Vilmanis

Greer-Nosek-J. Boqvist

Gadjovich-Entwistle-Lockwood

Forsling-A. Boqvist

Bjornfot-Ekblad

Mikkola-Hovorka

Schmidt-Balinskis

Kulikov-Alscher

Immediately, what sticks out is that the Panthers appear to be sticking with the same Top 6 which led them to the Stanley Cup.

Evan Rodrigues remains with the second line, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart remain on the top line with Aleksander Barkov, and the open roster spot appears to be on that third line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.

If Mackie Samoskevich was healthy, that was likely where he would be lining up, but rookie Sandis Vilmanis appears to have the opportunity to showcase himself in that preseason doubleheader next to the two Finns.

Vilmanis is a 20-year-old power forward entering his first season of professional hockey after a standout season in the OHL.

As for defense pairings, it seems too early to tell given the mismatching between the NHLers and the rookies.

If they stick for the double-header, Adam Boqvist has a big chance to prove himself with top pairings minutes in that opening preseason game.