Florida traded up to select Eriksson in the second round of the 2024 NHL Draft last month

The Florida Panthers are on top of the hockey world, for now.

This year’s Stanley Cup Champions had been working and building toward their goal for the past several seasons, but now they must balance trying to remain elite at the NHL level while still keeping an eye on the future.

That can prove challenging, especially if you’re a team, like Florida, that spent much of its higher draft capital on NHL-level players in an attempt to push for said championship.

With the idea of restocking the cupboard with high-end young talent, Panthers General Manager Bill Zito decided to trade up at this year’s NHL Draft in Las Vegas.

Florida did not have a selection in either of the first two rounds, but Zito flipped a couple picks to Toronto, including next season’s second rounder, and moved up to snag Swedish centerman Linus Eriksson.

The 18-year-old is still at least a season away from making the move to North America, but he’ll be skating with grown men in HockeyAllsvenskan for the second consecutive season on a contract with Djurgardens IF.

Last week, Eriksson got a taste of post-draft life.

He joined a few dozen of his Panthers prospect colleagues for Development Camp at the team’s new practice facility in Fort Lauderdale.

Despite having been drafted only a couple weeks earlier, Eriksson stood out at D-Camp for several of the right reasons, showing off his strong skating ability and offensive skillet while displaying several characteristics of his strong two-way reputation.

He also wasn’t afraid to be confident, even trying the Peter Forsberg move during a shootout attempt at the D-Camp scrimmage.

It will be fun to track Eriksson’s career path as he continues working toward his goal of playing in the NHL.

The next step will be signing a professional contract in North America, something that could happen as soon as next year once his season with Djurgardens IF comes to an end in the spring.

That doesn’t mean it will happen that quickly for Eriksson, but making the jump across the pond and starting to make way up the organizational ladder is something that many young players look to do sooner rather than later.

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