Three Questions From Florida Panthers Training Camp

Ft Lauderdale, FL – The Florida Panthers opened training camp Thursday at the Baptist Health IcePlex in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. While they return their core that led them to a Stanley Cup last year, there are still three pressing questions going into this year’s Panthers training camp.

Who Will Break Camp as Powerplay Quarterback?

With the departures of Brandon Montour to the Seattle Kraken and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Panthers are in need of someone to run the “quarterback” position for their power plays.

Last season, Ekman-Larsson began the season with the role while Montour was rehabbing an injury suffered in the 2022-23 playoffs. When Montour returned, he took that spot that he had held the previous season. 

With both of them gone, there are a handful of guys that can take the spot.

Aaron Ekblad has held that role in past seasons and looked comfortable doing it, recording 50 combined power-play points in three seasons between 2020 and 2022.

Gustav Forsling is a name that has floated around as a possibility. While heralded as one of the most fit players on the Panthers, he already led the team with 22:02 of ice time per game last season. It would be a challenge, though not impossible, for the 28-year-old defenseman to add to his 5-on-5 and penalty kill responsibilities.

Adam Boqvist and Nate Schmidt, two defensemen signed to one-year deals over the summer, also come in with quarterbacking experience.

Backup Goaltender Competition

Goaltender Spencer Knight has seemingly spent the last few seasons being the starter-in-waiting behind veteran Sergei Bobrovsky. The 23-year-old made his debut in 2020-21, and logged 53 total games over the next two seasons. As the Panthers were coming into the home stretch of the regular season in 2022-23, Knight entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and missed the rest of the year.

Knight then spent all of last season in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers while Anthony Stolarz took over the backup duties in Sunrise and excelled in the role, forcing the Panthers’ hand to keep Knight down in Charlotte.

Stolarz signed a two-year contract with Toronto this past offseason, leaving the backup spot open again.

However, the Panthers signed Chris Driedger to a one-year, $795k contract over the summer after Stolarz’s departure. Driedger, 30, had spent the last two seasons with the Seattle Kraken. There, he started 26 games and went 10-15-1 with a 2.93 goals allowed average with a .900 save percentage. In 2023-24, he played just two games with Seattle, spending most of his time with Seattle’s American Hockey League Affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Driedger, a former Panther himself,  recorded a 21-8-4 record, .931 save percentage and 2.07 goals against average over 35 total games with Florida from 2019-2021

Knight and Driedger will compete for that No. 2 spot in camp, along with fellow AHLers Mack Guzda, Cooper Black, Ken Appleby, and Evan Cormier.

Who Will The Depth Pieces Be?

Before we begin, we need to mention the cliche disclosure that the roster on opening night won’t be the roster we see throughout the season. The Panthers began last season with 20 skaters on the opening night roster, and wound up using 28 different guys throughout the year with injuries, call-ups, and trades.

The Panthers return eight of their top nine forwards this year, and need to fill out their entire fourth line after the departures of Ryan Lomberg, Steven Lorentz, Kevin Stenlund, Nick Cousins, Kyle Okposo, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Newly-signed veterans Tomas Nosek and Jesper Boqvist, along with younger offseason signees A.J. Greer and MacKenzie Entwistle, will compete for those spots with returning Panthers Justin Sourdif and Jonah Gadjovich.

Mackie Samoskevich, a first-round draft pick in 2021 who made his highly-anticipated debut last year, will compete for a possible third-line spot. The 21-year-old winger only played in seven games early last year, but made a good impression in his short stint.

With the signing of Adam Boqvist and Nate Schmidt, the Panthers starting defensive pairings are probably set. Uvis Balinskis is probably the favorite to get the seventh defenseman spot, but will likely compete with Jacob Megna and Matt Kiersted for it.