5 takeaways from Panthers development camp, from Samoskevich hype to late-round standouts

The Florida Panthers wrapped up their week-long development camp Friday with a scrimmage at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs. It was a chance to prospects to showcase their talent, get in some full-speed work and try to make an impression on the front office.

Here are five takeaways from the scrimmage and the camp, as a whole:

Samoskevich is ‘going to play’

As the only former first-round pick in the organization still yet to play a game in the NHL, Mackie Samoskevich is Florida’s most hyped prospect and he delivered on those expectations at camp, finishing the week by scoring a five-hole goal in the scrimmage Friday and hitting the post at another point.

He was the one player at the camp with a real chance to play in the NHL this year — the 20-year-old center explicitly stated it as his goal Monday — and those in the organization see it as a real possibility, maybe even an inevitability.

“That should be his goal. That’s what everyone wants to do. I don’t see why he couldn’t,” director of player personnel Bryan McCabe said. “The sky’s the limit for that kid. Whether it’s October of this year or January, this kid’s going to play.”

The 20-year-old center went straight from an All-Big Ten Conference season at Michigan, to a postseason run with AHL Charlotte, to work with the Panthers’ taxi squad during the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and then only took one week off before getting back to work to get ready for development camp this week.

Samoskevich, who’s a top-50 prospect in TheHockeyWriters.com’s ranking of affiliated prospects, will be back in South Florida for training camp in September, and plans to get in to town early to work out with some of the NHL players who usually run some player-led workouts and skates ahead of the preseason.

“Being around them in the summer and coming into camp, I think it’ll help me come in with the ball rolling and help me have a good camp,” the American forward said. “I’ve got a big summer coming up, so I don’t want to take too much time off.”

Spencer Knight brings fresh attitude

Although he didn’t take part in the scrimmage, Spencer Knight got what he wanted out of his unusual decision to participate in development camp.

The 22-year-old goaltender, who sat out the final three-plus months of the 2022-23 NHL season after entering the NHL’s and NHL Players’ Association’s joint player-assistance program in February, wanted to get back on the ice after nearly five months away and so he petitioned the NHL to be able to take part in the camp, despite having parts of three NHL seasons already under his belt.

As easily the most experienced player at camp, Knight embraced a leadership role and a refreshed attitude after his struggles earlier this year led him to seek help from the player-assistance program, which exists to aid players dealing with mental-health problems, substance-abuse issues or other related challenges.

“The one thing I’ve learned is that I’ve just got to be cool with whatever happens,” the American goalie said Wednesday. “I go here? Great. If you’re there? Great. This happens? Great. That’s the approach I have to have because I know the skill I have and I don’t doubt that. The skill combined with my physical capability — I think I have tremendous skill and I think I can be one of the best goalies in this league.”

Panthers’ Nause, Puutio flash potential

The Panthers started off the scrimmage with Samoskevich on the top forward line for the red team, and sent out defensemen Evan Nause and Kasper Puutio as the defensive pairing to counter him for the white team.

Among the defensemen, Nause and Puutio appear to have the brightest futures.

Nause, 20, was a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and won the 2023 Memorial Cup — the tournament contested among the top junior teams in Canada — with QMJHL Quebec. Puutio, 21, was a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, won a silver medal with Finland at the 2022 World Junior Championships and played a full professional season with KalPa of Finland’s Liiga last year.

Nause, who’s from Canada, was one of only three prospects picked in the top two rounds of the NHL Entry Draft at the camp and Puutio is one of only two top-100 prospects in the organization.

Together, they linked up for one of the prettiest plays of the scrimmage, too. In transition, Nause tapped a pass to Puutio, who tapped another pass back to Nause for an apparent goal. The goal, however, got wiped away because Nause actually kicked the puck into the goal, but it was still a smooth passing play from two of the franchise’s most promising prospects.

Late-round picks make impression

As of now, the Panthers don’t own another first-round pick until 2026, so Florida knows it needs to find contributors and talented prospects from unorthodox places, including — and especially — the later rounds of the NHL Draft.

Of the nine goals scored in the scrimmage, six came from players taken in the second half of the Draft or not at all.

Those players: 22-year-old center Owen Lindmark, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft; 19-year-old left wing Sandis Vilmanis, who was a fifth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft; 19-year-old center Liam Arnsby, who was a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft; 19-year-old right wing Jack Devine, who was also a seventh-round pick in the 2022 Draft; 19-year-old left wing Kai Schwindt, who was undrafted; 23-year-old center Wilmer Skoog, who was also undrafted; and 23-year-old center Jake Wise, who was undrafted, too.

Glifford puts together scrimmage shutout

The standout goaltender of the scrimmage was 18-year-old Olof Glifford, who didn’t give up a goal in his 20 minutes of action.

The Swedish goaltender, who plays for HV71 of Sweden’s J20 Nationell junior league, was the lone goalie Florida took in the 2023 NHL Draft.

“Even though he’s 18, he has a long way to go in his development,” special advisor Roberto Luongo said Thursday. “We identified that talent and we look at the upside. He’s just in the early stages of his upside and there’s a lot of untapped potential there.”