Preseason will be a bit different, but players are ready to get going
Center and team captain Aleksander Barkov put it the simplest.
“I think everybody’s just excited to get going again,” Barkov said Sunday. “It’s been a while. ... We’re hockey players. We want to play hockey.”
The Florida Panthers, five months after being eliminated from the NHL playoff bubble in the playin series by the New York Rangers, made their way back onto the ice Monday for the first time in a team setting as they open their abbreviated NHL training camp. In 10 days, they’ll open their 56-game regular season at home against the Dallas Stars.
But the leadup to the season, just like the conclusion to the 2019-2020 season, will look different, a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
ALL AT BB&T
The Panthers normally hold their training camp at their Coral Springs practice facility, the Panthers IceDen.
This year, however, the Panthers will hold their abbreviated camp at the BB&T Center.
Why?
“A lot of factors all weighed in, but it was rather simple,” first-year Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. “Rather than have two facilities and go back and forth, without a significant reason to utilize two, we can just use one.”
At the BB&T Center, the Panthers can take advantage of the multiple locker rooms to handle any social distancing concerns. They are also turning rooftops, balconies and other outdoor areas at the arena into weight rooms and meeting spaces.
“I think our players will enjoy that,” Zito said of the outdoor atmosphere. “We’re going to have
meetings and meals outside, whenever and wherever possible. Our coaches’ meetings will be outside, whenever possible.”
The one noticeable downside: The BB&T Center has only one rink and therefore only one sheet of ice for practice. The IceDen has three, and coach Joel Quenneville normally finds ways to utilize them all during practice.
But having only 39 players in camp this year — 21 forwards, 13 defensemen and five goaltenders — helped mitigate that concern. By way of comparison, the Panthers opened the 2019-2020 training camp with 61 players and had 55 at the beginning of the 2018-2019 camp.
“A smaller camp eliminated the need for multiple sheets as much,” Zito said. “You can make do with one.”
NEW FACES
The Panthers are poised to have a new look this year if only because of the sheer number of new players.
Of the 39 players in camp, only 13 spent time on Florida’s roster last season.
Seven of the new players are veterans acquired in the offseason: forwards Patric Hornqvist, Anthony
Duclair, Alex Wennberg, Carter Verhaeghe and Vinnie Hinostroza along with defensemen Radko Gudas and Markus Nutivaara.
And then there are the prospects to watch, namely forwards Owen Tippett and Grigori Denisenko. Tippett, the Panthers’ firstround pick in 2017, figures to be a contender to crack the opening-night roster. Denisenko, Florida’s 2018 first-round pick, could contend for a roster spot as well.
Two notable absences from training camp: forwards Henrik Borgstrom and Aleksi Saarela. Both are playing in their native Finland and most likely will stay overseas this season.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
The Panthers’ vaunted top forward line needs a new right wing and it’s not known how the second, third and fourth lines will look. Their first-team power-play unit needs two new scorers as well, and the penalty kill groupings are being shaken up as well. Defensive pairings need to be realigned.
Simply put: There’s opportunity up for grabs, and training camp lines will be fluid over the next 10 days as Quenneville mixes and matches in an attempt to
find the best lineup.
For now, Quenneville is starting with Duclair on the top line with Barkov and left wing Jonathan Huberdeau. Duclair is also penciled in on the top power play unit along with Wennberg to replace Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman.
“I feel as we go through training camp, we’ll probably see everybody with everyone,” Quenneville said. “During the course of a year, we always see a number of guys with different linemates. ... Interesting to see how quickly we can adapt to doing things together on the ice.”
NO GAMES
In addition to the shortened training camp, there are no preseason games this year. This adds another wrinkle to player evaluation for the coaching staff heading into the season.
It also means more scrimmage-type work during the shortened camp. The Panthers have two scrimmages scheduled for the first week, on Wednesday and Thursday before taking an off day Friday.