Pucks & Palms Florida Panthers Mailbag: August Edition
You asked, we answered. Let's get right to it...
Welcome to the first-ever edition of the Pucks & Palms Florida Panthers mailbag. This will be a monthly staple around here and typically one for paid subscribers, but since it’s launch week, we’re letting everyone get in on this.
Plus, there’s still just under a month to go until training camp, so this one is going to be a bit more fun, less nuts-and-bolts than usual.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
What are your thoughts on the new players coming in and how they might fit in? How do see the lineup shaking out? - Axeford Slacks
I will talk about each new player in depth in the Panthers Pulse series, but for now, I can go through a quick rundown on my thoughts here.
Adam Boqvist is the most interesting addition this offseason. With Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour both gone, the Panthers are going to need a new power play quarterback and Boqvist showed a lot of offensive upside in his junior career. He could be a contender to play that kind of role and could be a significant piece to the blue line if he pans out. More on this later.
Nate Schmidt is also a very important addition who can play middle-pairing minutes, which should help alleviate the loss of Montour specifically.
As for the others like Tomas Nosek, AJ Greer and Jesper Boqvist, I just think they’ll end up filling the spots on the fourth line vacated by the losses of Kevin Stenlund and Ryan Lomberg. Chris Driedger is fairly self-explanatory. He gets a chance to compete for a back-up job after an injury-plagued tenure with the Seattle Kraken, but this leaves the battle a lot more open for Spencer Knight to win than it was when Anthony Stolarz was around.
I will do a full line-up preview later, but really, it should not look a whole lot different other than the new guys filling in at those respective roles.
How can the Panthers repeat as champions and the difficulties they could face in the process? -Vincent Catalano
The good news for the Panthers is that they are returning a large majority of the core they won with last season and have done a decent job at filling in the holes.
Are they as good on paper as they were last year? No. But that is expected after you win the Stanley Cup. And they are facing two pretty big challenges as they try to steer themselves towards a second-straight ring.
For one, this is now their second short offseason in a row and that catches up to teams at some point. It didn’t seem to last year, with Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart both taking full advantage of that short offseason to come in slimmer and faster, but it’s something that plays out for all great teams eventually.
The bigger looming concern is their power play. As I said in the previous answer, Montour and Ekman-Larsson are both gone and that leaves a gaping hole on both units. There are a few options Florida could try to run with there (Boqvist, Gustav Forsling, five forwards) but they are going to need to find something new that clicks.
Stenlund was also a huge loss for the penalty kill, but the Panthers already have the in-house option of Anton Lundell to replace him there. He took quite a few penalty kill reps throughout the playoffs. One of Tomas Nosek or Jesper Boqvist could potentially help there, too.
Will Stanley C. Panther be changing his jersey number to 1? - Bryan
I have not received any word on whether Stanley C. Panther will be changing his jersey number, but there is just one problem here.
No. 1 is Roberto Luongo’s number. I don’t think the Panthers are taking that down from the rafters to give it to the cat. Not after that drum performance ahead of Game 7 at least.
I do like what you’re going for here, but if I were to give Stanley a new number, assign him No. 24 to honor the 2024 Cup Champs. It’s only right.
Which young player will step up and take the next step? - AJ Hirsh
The biggest frontrunner to do so has to be Mackie Samoskevich.
He had a spectacular first professional season in the AHL, scoring 22 goals and 54 points in 66 games as a 21-year-old. And when watching his tape, his playmaking was on-point, he showed up in plenty of big moments for the Checkers and he has quite the shot.
Last year, he showed flashes of having it at the NHL level, but in short spurts with not a whole lot of runway. That should change this season with Vladimir Tarasenko gone and no clear replacement for that third-line winger spot brought in via free agency.
The same opportunity is there for Justin Sourdif, who also got into a few NHL games last year, and Gracyn Sawchyn, who is very much a darkhorse but turned heads in training camp last year.
Rank the Florida Panthers media in who you would want on the ice in a hockey game for your life. - Alex
As you suggested earlier, I’ll split this up into the non-former NHL player division and the NHL alumni division to make this a bit more fair for everybody. But I’ll rank the folks who were here every day last year the best I can while providing some kind of explanation.
Non-NHL alumni division
Alex Baumgartner: He has played hockey the most recently, he is one of the younger guys and I know he wouldn’t let me die.
David Dwork: Also has a long history of playing hockey — and a goalie.
Jessica Blaylock: I do not know if she’s played hockey in the past but I know she’d give it her best out there.
Doug Plagens: I know he’s played hockey before and he’d have some pretty good chirps for whatever hockey team is out to kill me in this scenario.
Goldie: He’s Goldie, so he has to be in the Top 5.
Katie Engleson: Great vibes guy, and could possibly call new brother-in-law Carter Verhaeghe for backup.
Craig Minervini: Good vibes guy, I know he can skate, get him out there for me.
Jordan McPherson: Might not have the hockey skill of a Baumgartner, but he was one of the first paid subscribers of this thing, so I know he’d give it his all for me.
Jameson Olive: Unsure about hockey past, but sure about heart, so I’ll put him in the same tier as McPherson.
George Richards: Sorry, Georgie…
NHL alumni division
Billy Lindsay: I saw that man play in the alumni game last year. He can still hang.
Ed Jovanovski: He’s the most recently retired of the alumni in the media crew, I’m sure he still has it.
Jeff Chychrun: Pretty similar to Billy, he looked solid in that alumni game.
Randy Moller: He might be the last name on this list, but I’m sure he can throw some good chirps around and whip it around pretty well.
If I left you off this list, I’m sorry. And hopefully this doesn’t become an argument that lasts a few practices this year…