Florida signed Balinskis earlier this year following several standout seasons in the Czech Extraliga

Uvis Balinskis admits he may have “forgot” about his dream to play in the NHL.

The undrafted defenseman made a pretty nice career for himself playing professionally in Europe, whether it be in the KHL for Dinamo Riga in his native Latvia, or for Bílí Tygři Liberec in the Czech Extraliga, where he spent the past three seasons as one of the league’s top scoring blueliners.

It’s a career that’s nothing to scoff at. Far from it.

But the idea of playing in the NHL just faded further from the front of the 27-year-old's mind. 

That is, until the Florida Panthers began showing interest in Balinskis last year.

“I’ve been dreaming about playing in the NHL since I was a kid, but when I played a couple of professional years in Europe, I may have forgot about that,” he said. “Since I signed (with Florida) it was again my dream, and I’m just happy it happened.”

Balinskis is someone that Panthers General Manager Bill Zito has brought up several times during the summer, even as the team added a handful of defensemen in free agency knowing they would be without Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour to start the season.

When the preseason began, Balinskis was easy to overlook. He’s not particularly big, measuring an even 6 feet tall and weighing 187 pounds, and isn’t one of those kamikaze defenseman out there throwing their body around at anyone in range.

Game after game, there he was. Balinskis started doing more with the puck on his stick. Zone exits were clean. Pucks were getting through to the net, and he was showing off an ability to open up shooting lanes from the blue line.

Did he make a couple costly mistakes during the preseason? Sure. His confidence was not shaken, though.

As Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said after it was revealed Balinskis had made the Opening Night roster, he was a player that the scouting department had worked very hard to find and was highly enthused about signing.

“Excited about the potential of him,” Maurice said. “We like the way he moves the puck, but more like the way he plays game without any fear. He's trying to make plays, he's trying to get involved, he's trying to kill plays, and there's no nervousness, you can't feel any nervousness from him.”

Balinskis wouldn’t be the first impressive find by Florida’s scouting department.

Gus Forsling and Josh Mahura are integral parts of the Panthers back line and yet both were picked up by Florida off the waiver wire.

Florida’s talent judgers saw something in each player, and clearly their opinions were spot on.

Perhaps Balinskis is the next amazing find by Zito’s staff, a group of players that started with Carter Verhaeghe and hasn’t stopped growing since.

Should his name be added to Florida’s list of diamonds in the rough, Balinskis may very well be the rarest find of them all. 

LATEST THN FLORIDA STORIES

Florida Panthers continue season-opening road trip facing tough task in Winnipeg

Panthers GM Bill Zito discusses plan for Spencer Knight, rookie Mackie Samoskevich making NHL roster

Oliver Ekman-Larsson has strong showing in first game with Florida Panthers

Panthers new partnership with Publix will ‘enhance and reimagine’ plaza outside Amerant Bank Arena

Panthers blanked 2-0 on Opening Night in Minnesota