Projecting the Forward Group of the Healthy Florida Panthers Post-Trade Deadline

The Florida Panthers made a huge swing at the trade deadline, acquiring Brad Marchand. What will they look like come playoff time?

Photo via B/R Open Ice — Twitter

FORT LAUDERDALE — Saying that the Florida Panthers have an embarrassment of riches in their forward group is an understatement at this point.

On Friday afternoon, the Florida Panthers added Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand to a forward group that is returning eight of the top nine forwards it won the Stanley Cup with last season. A forward group that already sits atop the Atlantic Division as it is right now.

The Panthers will not see the fruits of this juggernaut they have assembled right away — Marchand is expected to miss “a couple weeks” with an injury he sustained on March 1 while Matthew Tkachuk will be out of the lineup until playoff time — but once they get there, they will have an infinite amount of options to roll with.

“You have injuries, you have fatigue, you have match-ups, and sometimes the coaches like a change,” Florida general manager Bill Zito said. “Change is good for change. Every once in a while, you want a different look, a different scheme, like when you move the furniture in your office around.

“Maybe that’s a bad parallel, but it gives the coaches optionality. With our team, not only can you go horizontally, but you can go vertically. A lot of these guys have the ability to play in different places, so it’s a tremendous asset.”

The skinny on that? The Panthers now have 15 forwards on the roster they feel fully comfortable playing with who they can deploy in any way they would like. And they can deploy them in ways that give them a different look from game-to-game.

But what does a healthy Florida forward group look like when it’s at it’s best?

I did my best to project it and give you guys an explanation on what each line could bring below: