Paul Maurice sheds light on Panthers plan with rookies Mackie Samoskevich and Justin Sourdif
Samoskevich is currently with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers while Sourdif is expected to play for Florida on Thursday
The Florida Panthers are a team that is very much in win-now mode.
Team's sharing that highly coveted characteristic generally earn their spot by, in part, sacrificing some of the franchise's future assets in order to beef up the NHL squad.
It's for that reason that some were pleasantly surprised by not one, but two of Florida's top prospects earnings spots on the Opening Night roster.
But now what?
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice provided some insight into the team's thought process behind the handling of rookies Mackie Samoskevich and Justin Sourdif.
Speaking after Wednesday's practice at Amerant Bank Arena, Maurice was asked what went into the thought process of sending Samoskevich to the AHL's Charlotte Checkers earlier this week after the 21-year-old played in Florida's first two games of the season.
"A whole bunch of things," Maurice explained. "The first idea is we've got two young guys that we like coming out of training camp. The going down part is we're not going to have either of those two guys watch hockey. So we thought, first road trip we'll bring two of them instead of having a veteran player and only bring one. We thought they both deserved to go and unless something was unusual…I was going to get both in the block. Neither of those players will play as the 13th forward here for any real time."
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Panthers will try to carry at least 13 forwards on the active roster all season.
That 13th guy will almost always be a veteran player whose development isn't necessarily going to suffer if they're a healthy scratch the same way a rookies would.
The best thing for Samoskevich and Sourdif and any young player is to be on the ice, playing games and gaining experience. It's instrumental at this stage of their careers.
"I'd like them to play 100 pro games this year if they could, half in the NHL and half in the American League," Maurice said. "Both those guys, they just won't sit here to watch games. There's no value in it."
Panthers General Manager Bill Zito has worked very hard to build a cohesive affiliate system with Florida, the Checkers and the ECHL's Florida Everblades.
The synergy between the Panthers and Checkers is particularly essential because it helps smooth the transition between the two teams and levels of play, which makes life a whole lot easier for younger guys who only have to learn one brand new system instead of two.
It also helps that Charlotte has a veteran coaching staff equipped to properly instruct and nurture Florida's prospects so they're that much better prepared for when the call back to the NHL comes in.
That's the plan for Samoskevich and his current visit to the Queen City.
"He gets down and he gets to practice, and there's stuff he's got to work on," Maurice said. "We know before the season starts that he's not playing here the whole year. That is the highest percentage chance of what's going to happen. He's a young guy, he's going to come in and play some games, he's gonna go down and come back up. That'll be true of Justin (Sourdif). Now he's hanging on to that job as long as he can hang on to it, but as soon as his minutes start to drop, and if they drop, than I don't want him here. I don't want him on the fourth line. I don't want him to watch hockey games."
As for the reasoning behind calling up William Lockwood, Maurice said it was really a simple decision.
"He was going," said Maurice.
That is true.
Lockwood scored in each of the Checkers first two games, adding an assist while logging 10 shots on goal.
That only cemented the decision to make Lockwood the first call-up. It was the work he did during training camp that caught the attention of Maurice, who admittedly wasn't very familiar with Lockwood when training camp began.
"That's the evolution of a relationship in some ways," Maurice said. "You come to camp, I don't really know him. And then by day five, you're going, 'Who's that kid?' And then by day 10 you're going, 'Hey, I like that kid.' And then later, what happens is all the people that made a really good impression in training camp, they go down (to the AHL), and then when we need a player, Bill (Zito) says, 'This guy is playing best' and we go, 'Okay, we're good with that.' So (Lockwood) made one of those impressions. Bill said, 'Lookwood's the guy.' Awesome."
Now when the time comes for another move to be made, it's not just going to be assumed that Samoskevich will be the first guy getting a ticket to Fort Lauderdale.
He'll have to earn his way back.
"That's the way this is, and that's why it's healthy," said Maurice. "For Mackie, when he goes down there, there is a responsibility, or the challenge of pro sports, that you've got to be the best guy to get called back up. It's not a given that because you were here first you get to come back up first."
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