Emptying the “junk drawer” for the Florida Panthers with team updates, prospect updates, and notes. The team has overcome an injury to their number one center and an illness to assistant captain Matthew Tkachuk to stay on top of the Atlantic Division with a 4-2-1 record. Florida rebounded from a 3-2 overtime loss at home to Vancouver to beat Vegas on the road 4-3 in overtime on a goal by Gustav Forsling. Here are some quick notes on the Panthers:
Aaron Ekblad notched two assists tonight and logged a career-high seven blocked shots, the most blocked shots by a #FlaPanthers skater in a regular season game since Radko Gudas blocked seven on February 28, 2023, at Tampa Bay.
During the Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada Saturday, Sportsnet reporter Elliotte Friedman reported that the Florida Panthers and center Sam Bennett have opened contract talks but stressed nothing is imminent.
Bennett, 29, is in the final year of a four-year, $17.7 million deal he signed with the Panthers following the 2021 season. This season, Bennett has four goals and three assists.
Aleksander Barkov was originally slated to be out for 2-3 weeks, and per head coach Paul Maurice, is still expected to be on that same timeline going forward. “We are going to be smart,” Maurice said. “He is really in tune with his body. He puts a lot of time into it. He was here yesterday just getting worked on, and he will play as soon as he says he is 100 percent ready.”
Maurice expects Barkov’s return to come before the Panthers head to Barkov’s hometown of Tampere, Finland, to take on the Dallas Stars in the NHL’s Global Series on November 1 and 2.
Florida Panthers Prospect Update
Panthers 2022 seventh-round draft pick Jack Devine is off to a hot start with the University of Denver. The right wing has already collected nine assists in just four games this season. Last season in 44 games, Devine contributed 27 goals and 29 assists with a plus-29.
2024 sixth-round pick Hunter St. Martin has scored six goals in the first seven games for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League. The assistant captain totaled 52 points in 68 games last season. The 19-year-old left wing joined Medicine Hat as a 16-year-old.
Stepan Zvyagin is a 2023 seventh-round pick playing for Dinamo-Molodechno in Belarus and has collected four goals and four assists in 15 games this season. Zvyagin is a 20-year-old winger.
2024 third-round pick Matvei Shuravin has five assists in six games for Krasanaya Armiya Moskva as an assistant captain in the MHL. The 97th overall pick is an 18-year-old, 6-foot-2, 175-pound defenseman.
The Panthers will host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday at 6:30 pm EST and then visit New York to face the Rangers on Thursday and the Islanders on Saturday.
