The Florida Panthers Extend Mackie Samoskevich

Thursday, the Panthers announced that they’d extended Mackie Samoskevich to a one-year deal at 775k. Mackie was a great surprise during the regular season as he slowly earned himself a top-6 role on the second line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, or Evan Rodrigues. He also secured a spot on the top power-play unit with Barkov, Reinhart, Ekblad, and Tkachuk. Although he didn’t see a lot of action in the postseason, only playing in 4 games during the Tampa series, HC Paul Maurice wasn’t worried about him. He likened Mackie’s first playoffs to Lundell’s, who only played 9 games in his rookie season, and that he’d be just fine. The next season, Lundell played in all 21 playoff games. Samoskevich did play more regular-season games, 72 compared to Anton’s 65, although Lundell put up a few more points, 44 compared to Mackie’s 31. Still, Samoskevich’s 31 points put him in the top 10 point getters on the team, just below Ekblad & Rodrigues, tied with Forsling. 

Bill Zito said, “Mackie is a talented young forward who demonstrated skill and maturity well above his age in his first full NHL season. He showcased his ability to slot into any hole in our lineup and find success this past season, which is a testament to both his play and character. We look forward to seeing him compete in our organization for years to come.” The Cats played Samoskevich on both the left and right wings last season, something that Rodrigues does exceptionally well for the team. Boqvist also has that flexibility to his game, and he slotted in on every single line last year. Players who can be successful on both sides allow the Panthers to keep their top three center-winger pairings together: Barkov-Reinhart, Bennett-Tkachuk, Lundell-Luostarinen. With those pairings set, Florida can move other players up and down the lineup if something isn’t working for someone. As HC Paul Maurice likes to say about Verhaeghe, “Sometimes he needs a change of scenery.” 

Where things get tricky is the salary cap situation. With Samoskevich now signed to a deal, it puts the Cats at 3.725M over the cap. So, one of two situations is likely to happen: someone gets traded, or Tkachuk is getting surgery over the summer and will be on LTIR for however long his recovery takes. Tkachuk was named to Team USA for the Olympics next year, so hopefully he’ll be good to play again by then. But that still leaves Florida in a tight spot cap-wise, and some possible cap casualties could be Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist. Greer or Gadjovich could potentially be waived to also help if only one player gets traded, but I think the likelihood of them clearing waivers isn’t high. Teams are probably eager to break up this Panther squad in any way they can, with so many players signed long-term. Florida could be done making moves for the offseason now, but until it’s definitively known whether or not Tkachuk is getting surgery, there could still be some activity to come.