Florida Panthers’ Opening Night roster is set. Here’s the group

The Florida Panthers’ roster to begin the 2023-24 seasonis set.

The Panthers on Tuesday, after making their final rounds of cuts from training camp on Saturday and Monday, have announced the 22-player roster they will field when they open the season Thursday against the Minnesota Wild. The group includes 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.

That’s one player shy of the maximum 23 allowed on a roster at any time.

The only player still at camp not on a contract is forward Brett Ritchie, who is with the team on a professional tryout.

The only other potential wrinkle that still needs to be finalized is if Sam Bennett goes on injured reserve. Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the center is doubtful for the season opener on Thursday against the Wild and could be out as long as two weeks with a lower-body injury.

Outside of the expected, a pair of prospects made the roster.

The big name is Mackie Samoskevich, the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2021. He seemed like a lock to break camp with the team as the preseason entered the final week. He logged six points (three goals and three assists) in six preseason games and showed he is able to play on either wing in a middle-six forward role.

The Panthers apparently felt the same.

While Samoskevich made the roster, fellow prospect Justin Sourdif did not despite being with the team all the way until Monday. Sourdif wasn’t nearly as safe of a bet to make the roster as Samoskevich, but the 21-year-old was consistent and productive during the preseason. He scored one goal and added two assists in six preseason games while getting considerable ice time.

With Bennett’s injury, there was a path for both Samoskevich and Sourdif to get steady playing time early on. Once Bennett returns, it’s likely one of the two — probably Sourdif — goes down to the Charlotte Checkers, Florida’s American Hockey League affiliate, to continue getting regular ice time.

But the main thing Maurice wants for both players is to get steady ice time, so Sourdif is starting at Charlotte.

“Both of those young players have come in and put up some numbers, which is nice,” Maurice said. “They played hard and they played well for us, but they won’t watch hockey. They have to play, so that is part of the decision process. If you can find meaningful minutes for them, I think it makes sense, but if not, they can’t just sit and watch.”

The other player who locked up one of Florida’s final roster spot: Uvis Balinskis, a 27-year-old the Panthers signed over the summer out of the Czech league. The defenseman impressed enough in camp to beat out Casey Fitzgerald, Lucas Carlsson and Matt Kiersted for Florida’s seventh defenseman spot.

With that, here’s what the roster looks like, with players sorted by position and then alphabetically within their position:

FORWARDS (13): Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, Nick Cousins, Ryan Lomberg, Steven Lorentz, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, Mackie Samoskevich, Kevin Stenlund, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe

Most of the Panthers’ mainstays from last season return, with nine of the team’s 10 top point scorers back. Rodrigues replaces Anthony Duclair on the top line with Barkov and Verhaeghe. Stenlund and Lorentz will factor into fourth-line roles.

DEFENSEMEN (7): Uvis Balinskis, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Gustav Forsling, Dmitry Kulikov, Josh Mahura, Niko Mikkola, Mike Reilly

With Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour sidelined early and the departures of Radko Gudas and Marc Staal, the Panthers’ blue line will look drastically different to start the year from the group that it used last season. Forsling and Mahura are the only two from last season’s team beginning the season on the active roster. Ekman-Larsson and Forsling will be the defensemen running the power play.

GOALTENDERS (2): Sergei Bobrovsky, Anthony Stolarz

Bobrovsky, entering his fifth season with the Panthers, will be in net early and often. Stolarz, 29 and with 81 games of NHL experience, will be the backup with Spencer Knight starting the season in the AHL.