Florida fishes for formidible Finns at finale
Physical defensemen also are Panthers’ priority as draft concludes
After getting goal-scoring machine Owen Tippett on Friday, his intended target in the first round, Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon wasn’t finished.
So he continued his recent trend of amassing as many Finnish players as he can in the organization by selecting center AleksiHeponiemi with the 40th pick in the second round of the NHL draft on Saturday.
Heponiemi, 18, is from the same hometown of Tampere as Panthers’ top-line center Aleksander Barkov, the second overall pick of the 2013 draft. The slightly built 5-foot-10,150-pound Heponiemi notched 28 goals and had 86 points in 72 games for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League.
Then with his last pick (184th, sixth round) Tallon plucked right wing Sebastian Repo, 21. And like Barkov, he honed his game playing with adults forT appara of the elite Finnish Liiga. “[Barkov’s] like a god there,” Repo said. With former enforcer Shawn Thornton now pushing pencils instead of opponents, and the trade of rugged defenseman Erik Gudbranson last summer, Jason Bukala, Florida’s director of amateur scouting, said the team needed to add more grit.
Thus, Tallon focused on improving the Panthers’ physical play in the back end in the middle rounds with a couple of rugged defensemen by snaring teammates for the
last two years on the U.S. National under-18 and -17 development teams — 6-foot-3 Max Gildon in the third round and 6-4 Tyler Inamoto in the fifth round.
“Tyler’s big, mobile and plays a mean game,” Tallon said. “We talked about adding speed, skill and sandpaper and he brings that element to our draft.”
Inamoto, 18, a New Jersey native who moved to Barrington, a Chicago suburb four years ago, received a huge ovation when his name was called in the United Center.
Inamoto is headed to the University of Wisconsin after notching 147 penalty minutes in 59 games with the U.S. under-18 team last season. “I’ll work onmy stickhandling, passing and shooting skills and keep watching game film in the offensive zone,” Inamoto said. “I’m physical in the offensive zone and hard to play against, and I make the good first pass.”
Tallon isn’t alone in his Finn affinity, as six Finns, led by defenseman Miro Heiskanen at No. 3, were drafted in the first round and 23were taken overall.
Last season, Repo played with recent Panthers free-agent addition, forward Henrik Haapala, who led the Finnish league with 60 points. They’ll be competing for jobs at the Panthers’ development camp.
Also attending camp on Tuesday will be Finnish center Henrik Borgstrom, last year’s 23rd overall pick, wholed the University of Denver to a national title with 22 goals and 43 points in 37 games.
Tallon drafted Finn center Juho Lammikko in the third round of the 2014 draft and veteran forward Jussi Jokinen is entering his third season with Florida.
Both Tallon and Bukala heaped praise on European scout
Jari Kekalainen for finding the Finns. “Finns play hard; they’re passionate; they play the North American style game; have a lot of skill and the desire to play in the NHL,” Tallon said.
Rather than play in the adult Finnish league, Heponiemi chose tomove to Canada and play inthe WHL so he could acclimate to smaller rinks and North American culture.
“Canada has the best junior leagues, so obviously I want to play in the best,” he said. “It wasn’t too big a thing for me. …Obviously, it’s a huge honor to go there, a great organization, and lots of Finnish guys is a great thing. … My brother is the same age [as Barkov] and I watched himmy entire junior career.”
Repo, a tough, 6-foot-2, 190-pounder, is physically more NHL-ready than Heponiemi. He scored 11 goals and 32 points in 46 games for Tappara, along with 78 penalty minutes.
“I’ve just been waiting my turn,” Repo said. “I know many Finnish guys who went to NHL without getting drafted so I kept my mindset and knew I could do it some day.”
Bukala said that Gildon, a Houston native who will attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall, possesses a booming slap shot reminiscent of former Panthers defenseman Jason Garrison.
“I’m looking to improve my all-around game, get to the NHL level and stick for a long time,” said Gildon, who grew up in the Dallas Stars junior program.
Tallon said the Panthers’ pipeline is loaded with young, talented players and five picks was plenty.
“Sometimes you want to clean out the cupboard,” Tallon said. “Now we need to be more selective and put the pieces in the right place because our depth chart is nicely balanced and deep. With five picks, it’s quality over quantity.”
McFarland added as assistant
Panthers coach Bob Boughner completed his staff a day after hiring former New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano by adding former Kingston Frontenacs coach Paul McFarland to help run the offense.
“He’s an alumni of the [Windsor] Spitfires, so I had a lot of contact with him. I know him and his family,” Boughner said. “He’s an up-and-coming guy with a lot of structure and detail.
“He’s a pretty unique guy. He’s 31 years old; he’s already been an accountant and school teacher, and now he’s an NHL hockey coach. He’s a great communicator and that’s what I was looking for, an up-and-coming, passionate guy.”
McFarland, who guided the Frontenacs (OHL) to three consecutive playoff berths, is the older brother of former Panthers forward John McFarland (2nd round in 2010), who is now playing in Europe after playing just three games for Florida in 2015.
“I look forward to working with the Panthers and helping a talented, young team compete toward their goal of winning the Stanley Cup,” Paul McFarland said.
“We talked about adding speed, skill and sandpaper and [Tyler Inamoto] brings that element to our draft.” Dale Tallon, Panthers general manager