Florida hosted several dozen prospects for its annual development camp last week in Coral Springs
There has been a lot of hockey-reaction action happening with and around the Florida Panthers over the past several days.
Ice Den in Coral Springs was in high-gear last week, but Florida’s annual development camp wasn’t the only Panthers-related incident that could be considered newsworthy.
We’ll kick off the recap with a couple of questions THN asked prior to dev camp, one regarding what Florida’s power play could look like early next season if they’re without one or both of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, and another question asking why Sam Reinhart keeps coming up in trade rumors.
The news of Patric Hornqvist retiring didn’t come as a surprise considering the way last season went for him, with the concussions and all, but it was still quite notable considering how profound of an impact the Swedish star had on the franchise during his three years in South Florida.
We did an opinion piece where THN suggested not sleeping on the signing of defenseman Mike Reilly, and also posted on the Panthers having a new ticketing partner and what that will mean for everyone attending a Cats game moving forward.
A day later, Reilly spoke to the South Florida media and expressed how the Panthers have become a team that players want to join, and how that opinion is traveling quickly throughout the league.
Unsurprisingly, Cats captain Sasha Barkov was spotted at a Wimbledon match.
Something cool Florida did at the ice-less FLA Live arena was host a hockey clinic for the visually impaired, something the team has been doing since 2018.
Shifting to development camp, THN posted on the team’s plans with Spencer Knight in terms of his return to the ice, and on a bigger scale, to the team.
Several players at D-camp were either drafted or signed (or both) by Florida.
Florida AHL affiliate head coach Geordie Kinnear explained early in the week his plans for how he wanted things to go, and the reasoning behind it.
Mackie Samoskevich, Florida’s 2021 first-round pick, expressed his belief that he’s ready to for the NHL, and his play during the week did nothing to dissuade THN from believing that was a possibility.
On a similar note, 2021 second-round pick Evan Nause feels he is ready to go pro and is hoping a strong showing at development camp will help him receive a contract offer from Florida.
During camp, Knight spoke to the media for the first time since returning from the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. He was smiling and cracking jokes while saying he feels he can still be a great goaltender and is ready to embrace the unknown.
Knight also explained why he isn’t concerned that his extended time off the ice will hinder his ability to resume his promising and ascending career path.
During development camp, the prospects did several fun, team-building activities away from the rink, including a sushi-making class, attending a Blink 182 concert and a team dodgeball tournament in which the action was all caught on camera.
THN discussed Owen Brady and his amazing story of battling and beating cancer as a teenager to now resume his once-again promising hockey career.
THN Development Camp Notebook: Day 2
THN Development Camp Notebook: Day 3