Luongo status not a factor with 13th pick
After landing highly coveted coach Joel Quenneville in the offseason, the Florida Panthers will look to bulk up their roster as the NHL draft begins Friday night.
The first round will take place Friday night at 8 p.m. on NBC Sports Network and Rounds 2-10 will follow Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. on NHL Network from Vancouver.
The Panthers have the 13th pick Friday and it seems likely Florida could opt for a goalie at that spot. Longtime net-minder Roberto Luongo, who turned 40 in April, hasn’t made a decision yet about his future, but general manager Dale Tallon said it wouldn’t factor into what Florida does with its first-rounder.
“I don’t expect it to be much longer [before Luongo makes a decision],” Tallon said. “We’re allowing him to make the decision. It’s a very difficult decision after such an illustrious career, so he’s going to let us know shortly.”
A 19-year NHL veteran, Luongo has spent 11 of those seasons with the Panthers, including the past six. This past season, he played in just 43 games due to injury. In those contests, he posted a .899 save percentage and 3.12 goals-against average. Backup James Reimer and 22-year-old Samuel Montembeault are the other two goalies on the roster.
In NHL.com’s mock draft, they have the Panthers selecting 18-year-old goalie Spencer Knight, a Connecticut native who played on the USA U-18 team.
“The best goaltender in the draft matches well with a team in desperate need of adding a young goaltender,” NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman said. “Knight [6-3, 193] is solid fundamentally and a tremendous athlete, which he displayed by finishing in the top 15 in eight categories during the fitness testing at the NHL Scouting Combine.”
The Panthers have nine picks in this weekend’s draft, followed by nine next year and eight the following year. Tallon said they’ve honed in on 125 players across the globe since the scouting process began in August. Tallon said he’s seen the top 50 prospects play in person multiple times.
“[We’ve] continued to build up energy toward the draft and so we’re really ready to go,” Tallon said. “We have a lot of picks. These are important drafts for us the next few years.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to build up our depth chart.”
After missing the playoffs with a 36-32-14 record (86 points), the Panthers entered the offseason in an enviable position. With a strong nucleus returning, including Lady Byng Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau Vincent Trocheck, Mike Hoffman and Keith Yandle, plus its draft picks and an ample amount of cap space, Florida could be primed to make a splash.
“For us, we do have more options then we’ve had in the past,” Tallon said. “The less and less we can rely on free agency, the better off you are. Especially with contracts and position with the cap.
“Our goal is to have all draftees that are on our team. I don’t know if that’s possible, but that’s our goal and to not have to go into free agency, but it’s necessary at this time, so we’re going to be aggressive with the thought about longterm benefit of our team; not short-term.”
Free-agent winger Artemi Panarin and goalie Sergei Bobrovski could be potential targets for the Panthers.
A three-time Stanley Cup winning coach, Quenneville won’t have too much input on this draft since he joined the organization late in the process, but Tallon envisions him playing a strong role as he time goes along.
“We rely on everyone in the organization to have an opinion about players,’ Tallon said. “So we’ve asked his opinion on what he thinks we could use and he’s asked us what’s available in the draft and if any of these guys can step up and play right away and what position they are, so we’re going to incorporate him more and more as he’s with us.”