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Soy makes impression at Panthers’ camp.
A pair of Florida Panthers first-round picks occupied the same line during the team’s development camp scrimmage last week, with 2017 firstrounder Owen Tippett on the right wing and 2018 first-round Grigori Denisenko on the left.
Fans know those names. But between them at center? There was the anonymous and unknown Tyler Soy.
Soy was an undrafted development camp invite to Coral Springs after spending parts of six seasons in the Western Hockey League with Victoria, where he was an alternate captain for three of them. He left Victoria as the team’s all-time leader in games (323), goals (151), assists (176) and points (327).
Last season with Victoria, Soy scored 36 goals and assisted on 56 others in 66 games. He was a seventhround pick by Anaheim in 2016 but did not sign with the Ducks.
Panthers director of player personnel Bryan McCabe said the organization has been scouting Soy over the years.
“Had some great stats there, spent five years with Victoria in the WHL,” McCabe said. “Not many guys do that, stay with one team. There’s obviously some great character there, leadership qualities. He’s a really skilled player that can add some depth for us maybe down the road.”
Soy said McCabe and the Panthers reached out before the draft, and said they would invite him to camp if he went undrafted. (“If things don’t go good and I don’t get picked, they’d be happy to invite me to camp,” Soy said.)
Soy was also on Vancouver’s development camp roster, which was released Friday afternoon. The Canucks’ camp runs from Monday to Thursday.
“I’m more of a skilled, two-way player,” Soy said. “I like to use my vision and try to set up my teammates. I think that I’ve got a pretty good finish around the net offensively, as well.”
Where (or even if ) Soy fits into the Panthers organization is a question. As a free agent, he’s free to sign with any other team. But should he sign with Florida, he’d add to the forward depth with AHL affiliate Springfield, which should already welcome a host of new faces.
Jonathan Ang, Patrick Bajkov, Riley Stillman and Sebastian Repo are expected to jump to the AHL next season. Springfield coach Geordie Kinnear, who coached the camp, pumped the brakes on drawing conclusions from who Soy played with.
“He’s an intriguing guy that we wanted to take a look at, too,” Kinnear said. “He put up a lot of points. I wouldn’t read too much into the lines, but it was an opportunity for him to show what he can do.”