Panthers hope for encore
Tallon at World Championship scouting for help
The Florida Panthers and general manager Dale Tallon are hoping for a repeat of last year at the World Championship.
No, the outcome of the annual tournament is not consequential to the franchise’s fortune, but the players it produces could be. Last year, Tallon scouted the tournament and found forward Evgenii Dadonov playing for Russia and goaltender Harri Sateri playing for Finland. Both players signed with the Panthers and became key contributors during the season.
This year, when the tournament starts May 4 in Denmark, Tallon will again be in attendance trying to uncover another international gem.
“You got to take advantage of every opportunity,” Tallon said. “If we can find another Dadonov-like player, then it’s a bonus. It makes sense. Hopefully, there will be some player like that, a defenseman or a forward or a goalie that we like. You just never know. You never know.”
All three positions are ones of need for the Panthers, to varying degrees.
While the Panthers are deep down the middle (with Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck, Henrik Borgström, Jared McCann and Derek MacKenzie), the team is lacking wingers. The team has three defensemen (Keith Yandle, Aaron Ekblad and Mike Matheson) signed to longterm deals, but could use a more defensive-minded blue-liner to limit chances.
And Sateri is an unrestricted free agent, meaning the Panthers likely need to sign a No. 3 goaltender to back up the aging Roberto Luongo and the inconsistent James Reimer.
Dadonov signed a threeyear, $12-million contract with Florida last summer after spending three seasons in the KHL. In his return to the NHL, Dadonov was excellent, scoring 28 goals and racking up 37 as- sists while developing chemistry with Barkov. He was arguably the best freeagent signing of last summer.
Sateri, meanwhile, helped save the Panthers season by jump-starting a four-game winning streak after the All-Star break. Across those four games, Sateri had a .950 save percentage and 1.50 goals against average and was named a league-wide star of the week.
The Panthers finished
the season one point out of a playoff spot, becoming the second team in NHL history to miss the postseason with at least 96 points. ...
Panthers coach Bob Boughner is an assistant coach for Team Canada, where he’ll help coach Ekblad. Dadonov is expected to play for Russia, and forward Maxim Mamin is also a candidate for the Russian team.
Trocheck (United States), Barkov (Finland), Jonathan Huberdeau (Canada) and Denis Malgin (Switzerland) are not expected to play in the tournament.