The Florida Panthers will not officially announce their Opening Night roster for the 2023-24 NHL season until Tuesday morning but it rookie Mackie Samoskevich will be on it.
According to PuckPedia.com and the roster sent to teams around the NHL, Florida will start the season with 22 players (13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders) when it opens against the host Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
Justin Sourdif has been sent to AHL Charlotte as the Panthers’ final cut of the preseason.
The 20-year-old had three points in six preseason games after scoring 24 points in 48 games in his first professional season with the Checkers.
He should log heavy minutes with the Checkers and will likely make his NHL debut with the Panthers sometime this season.
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Samoskevich, who left the University of Michigan following a strong sophomore season, is expected to make his NHL debut in Minnesota.
Florida’s first-round pick in 2021, Samoskevich turned heads during the preseason, scoring six points (three goals, three assists) in six games to follow up a very strong showing in both development camp and the rookie showcase.
On Monday, the 20-year-old played on the third line with Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart; Sourdif filled in for Nick Cousins — whom coach Paul Maurice said will return to practice Tuesday — on Florida’s second line.
“It’s nice to see the hard work pay off,” Samoskevich told FHN on Monday.
“When I grew up, my parents told me when you work hard, good things happen. This was one of those summers where I put my head down and didn’t really look up. It’s just the beginning.”
Per PuckPedia, the Panthers have just under $500,000 under the salary cap which is not enough to sign Brett Ritchie — who was in camp on a professional tryout.
Ritchie had 13 points in 50 games for the Arizona Coyotes and the Calgary Flames last year.
Florida could still sign Ritchie in the coming days although he is not on the opening roster.
This is not an unprecedented move.
The Panthers kept Eric Staal around after he came to camp on a PTO last year but could not sign him until Aaron Ekblad went on long-term injured reserve after being hurt in Boston which freed up some cap space.
As it appears right now, Ekblad and Brandon Montour will start the season on injured reserve although one or both could be moved to LTIR to clear up enough to sign Ritchie or someone else.
Ritchie was one of Florida’s extras at practice on Monday.
Maurice said afterward no decision on whether to sign him had been made.
The Panthers lost John Ludvig off waivers to the Pittsburgh Penguins after placing him, Zac Dalpe and Casey Fitzgerald on waivers Sunday.
Ludvig, 23, turned heads in camp with his defensive and physical play but missed the final three preseason games with an injury.
Previously, he played just 53 games in the last two years due to a hip injury.
Other noteworthy additions to the Panthers is 26-year-old defenseman Uvis Balinskis who is in his first North American season after playing in the Czech league.
FLORIDA PANTHERS ROSTER*
FORWARDS (13): Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell, Sam Bennett, Eetu Luostarinen, Kevin Stenlund, Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Mackie Samoskevich, Steven Lorentz
DEFENSEMEN (7): Gus Forsling, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mike Reilly, Josh Mahura, Dmitri Kulikov, Niko Mikkola, Uvis Balinskis
GOALIES (2): Sergei Bobrovsky, Anthony Stolarz
INJURED RESERVE (2): Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour
PTO (1): Brett Ritchie
* — Team says it will officially announce Tuesday morning
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