After NHL debuts, Borgström and Tippett look for season-long success
If the Florida Panthers are to take a step forward next season and close the one-point gap between the team and the postseason, their previous two firstround picks will likely have to play significant roles.
Center Henrik Borgström (No. 23 pick in 2016) and winger Owen Tippett (No. 10 pick in 2017) both made their NHL debuts last season, but they could play their first full seasons in the NHL next season. The Panthers are counting on Borgström and Tippett to provide more depth to a forward group that was lacking it last season outside of Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent Trocheck.
In seven games in October and November, Tippett scored one goal. In four games in March and April, Borgström scored one goal.
Though they appeared in a handful of NHL games, Tippett spent the majority of his season in the Ontario Hockey League with Mississauga and Borgström completed his collegiate season in Denver. That put both players on the radar of Panthers director of player personnel Bryan McCabe, who oversees the development of Florida’s prospects.
“Both will have to bring some more consistency to their games,” McCabe said. “They’re both high-octane, offensive players — Tip being a natural goal scorer with a big shot and Borgy being a dynamic playmaker who can also score. They’re going to have to have a big summer training and get in the best shape of their lives, because an 82-game NHL season is a grind.”
The emergence of Borgström (20 years old) and Tippett (19) would add more skill and speed into a forward group that struggled to find steady wingers for Trocheck on the second line and searched for bottom-six scoring all season. Their production would also allow the Panthers younger, cheaper, longerterm options that would not be available on the trade market (like Carolina’s Jeff Skinner and Montreal’s Max Pacioretty) or in free agency (like James van Riemsdyk, Rick Nash and James Neal).
In Tippett, the Panthers have a proven scorer in the OHL — 95 goals in 159 games — that was regarded as one of the top pure shooters in last year’s draft. But he was left off Canada’s roster for the World Junior Championship and had subpar possession numbers while playing primarily on Florida’s third and fourth lines.
McCabe said Tippett — 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds — needs to work on his game away from the puck.
“Bottom line is the kid can skate, NHL skater, NHL body, NHL shot,” McCabe said. “He just needs to fine tune the finer points of the game and be able to maintain energy for a 45-second NHL shift. You tend to get some bad habits in junior, extended shifts, two-minute power play shifts and stuff like that.”
Borgström, meanwhile, is more of a creator and playmaker than a sniper like Tippett. Across his two seasons in Denver, Borgström earned the nickname “The Artist” for his creativity with the puck. He finished last season as one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey’s best player.
In two college seasons, he had 45 goals and 50 assists in just 77 games. Opposing college coaches lamented facing Borgström because of his offensive skills and the length his 6-foot-3 frame provided, but McCabe said the Finn’s overall game took a big step forward under then-Denver and new Stars coach Jim Montgomery.
“He’s learned being a center, being low and slow and not blowing the zone,” McCabe said. “He’s a guy that wants the puck and can do a lot of special things with it. He’s not too far off. I think he’s got to get a little stronger, upper-body wise.”
Borgström burned a year off his three-year, entry-level contract when he played down the stretch last season. Tippett’s entry-level contract still has three years remaining because he was an 18-year-old that played in fewer than 10 games.
mdefranks@sun-sentinel .com, Twitter @MDeFranks