Panthers’ Boughner excited to begin

After attending his first NHL draft as a head coach over the weekend, Florida Panthers coach Bob Boughner is anxious to get on the ice and work with the young players at this week’s development camp.

On Saturday, Boughner said he was excited about a Panthers draft class that most NHL sites gave a Bplus.

Boughner, who drafted several juniors from the Greater Toronto Hockey League junior programs when he was president/ coach of the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL, was well aware of Panthers’ first-round pick Owen Tippett’s exploits. Tippett, a right wing, scored 44 goals for the Mississauga Steelheads of the OHL last season.

“I’ve watched Owen since he was 14, 15 years old when he played for the Toronto Red Wings [Midget AAA],” Boughner said. “He’s a guy we, we had a lots of interest in when we were running Windsor. Very familiar with him. I love his speed. He’s got an NHL shot already. I talked to him [Saturday], told him to come to camp with the mindset to make the team because you can’t teach what he has in his package.”

Heading into the draft, Tippett was ranked fifth among forwards and defenseman by International Scouting Service, founded by former Panthers co-owner Stu Siegel of Boca Raton, and seventh among North American skaters by NHL’s Central Scouting.

Where: Panthers IceDen, 3299 Sportsplex Dr., Coral Springs

Who: Thirty-four of the Panthers’ top prospects, draft picks, minor leaguers and six tryout players will participate in a four-day camp that will culminate in a Red-Blue intrasquad game on Friday. Forwards Jayce Hawryluk and University of Denver standout Henrik Borgstrom will be on hand. Last weekend’s draft selections, including forward Aleksi Heponiemi and Sebastian Repo, along with first-round pick Owen Tippett will be there. Panthers center Denis Malgin will attend. Parkland native forward Mark Cheremeta is trying out.

Admission: Free and open to the public SCHEDULE

Today: 2:15 to 4:45 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday: 9 a.m. to 12:25 p.m; Friday’s Red-Blue scrimmage: 9 a.m. ROSTERS

Red team — Goalies: No. 36 Evan Cowley; No. 37 Samuel Montembeault; Defensemen: No. 50 Riley Stillman; No. 54 Spencer Abraham; No. 59 Sean Durzi; No. 61 Linus Hultstrom; No. 67 Thomas Schemitsch; No. 71 Tyler Inamoto; Forwards: No. 40 Jonathan Ang; No. 44 Henrik Haapala; No. 45 Dryden Hunt; No. 55 Mark Cheremeta; No. 58 Tyler Owen; No. 62 Denis Malgin; No. 64 Matt Buckles; No. 65 Juho Lammikko; No. 70 Sebastian Repo

Blue team — Goalies: No. 35 Ryan Bednard; No. 38 Zach Bowman; Defensemen: No. 43 Ben Finkelstein; No. 46 Linus Nassen; No. 49 Michael Downing; No. 61 Dylan Ploufee; No. 63 Nolan Kneen; No. 72 Max Gildon; Forwards: No. 41 Karch Bachman; No. 42 Henrik Borgstrom; No. 47 Jayce Hawryluk; No. 51 Chris Wilke; No. 53 Maxim Mamin; No. 56 Francois Beauchemin; No. 57 Patrick Shea; No. 60 Aleksi Heponiemi; No. 78 Joe Wegwerth

Boughner