Five fascinating potential storylines for the Florida Panthers’ upcoming development camp

Less than a month after they lost the 2023 Stanley Cup Final to the Golden Knights, the Florida Panthers will be back on the ice again this week — sort of.

The Panthers’ annual development camp begins Monday at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs and a number of players poised to potentially help Florida as soon as next season will be in action.

In attendance, the Panthers will have one player with NHL experience, two former first-round picks and a pair of top-100 prospects, according to TheHockeyWriters.com.

The camp, which features 37 total players, runs from Monday-Friday and will be open to the public, with a scrimmage to wrap up the week Friday.

Although prospects only mean so much to a Stanley Cup contender, there are still some important storylines to monitor this week in South Florida.

Spencer Knight returns to action

Players with NHL experience seldom participate in development camps and Spencer Knight had to get a waiver to take part this year, and there was good reason for it. The goaltender, who was a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and spent much of the last two years as the Panthers’ backup goalie, finished last season in the NHL’s and NHL Players’ Assocation’s joint player assistance program.

More than four months after he went into the program, Knight will finally return to the ice this week to try to build his way back up to help Florida next season.

Last year, Knight signed a three-year, $13.5 million extension with the Panthers, making him one of the highest paid backup goaltenders in the NHL. Florida is paying $14.5 million annually to its goalies right now, so the Panthers need to get high-level play from the position and Knight’s road to a return starts here.

Are there other 2024 contributors?

Knight will almost certainly help Florida during the 2023-24 NHL season, although general manager Bill Zito did say goaltender Anthony Stolarz will get a real shot to back up star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and Knight is still exempt from waivers, so he could return to the American Hockey League. Otherwise, no one else appears to guaranteed to help out in the NHL next year.

Still, six other players have already signed entry-level contracts. Those six players are goaltender Ludovic Waeber, defensemen Marek Alscher and Evan Nause, and forwards Mackie Samoskevich, Ryan McAllister and Kai Schwindt.

Of those six, Samoskevich probably has the best chance to see some time in the NHL. The 20-year-old American was the Panthers’ most recent first-round pick, back in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, and scored 19 goals and 40 points last year for Michigan, before joining the Charlotte Checkers and then handing out four assists in seven games in the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs. Florida has some openings on their fourth line after losing forwards Colin White, Eric Staal and Givani Smith in free agency, and Samoskevich has the highest upside of anyone tangentially in the mix for a spot.

How good is Kasper Puutio?

Samoskevich is the top prospect in the organization and Kasper Puutio is the only other one in the top 100.

The 21-year-old defenseman, however, signed a one-year deal with the Lahti Pelicans of Finland’s Liiga in May, meaning it’ll probably be at least another year until he heads to the United States.

Even though he was only a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Puutio starred at the 2022 World Junior Championships, scoring four goals and notching three assists in seven games for Finland to be named the best defenseman of the tournament.

With so many defensemen on one-year deals for the Panthers, Puutio could position himself to help out in the somewhat near future.

Gracyn Sawchyn arrives in Florida

Although it didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Florida perhaps found a first-round talent by taking forward Gracyn Sawchyn late in Round 2 last month.

The 18-year-old Canadian was the No. 13 prospect in the 2023 NHL Draft, according to EliteProspects.com, and the Panthers toyed with with trading up for him on Day 2 of the NHL Entry Draft as he was sliding.

They got him anyway and now will get a first look at him in their program this week.

He’s probably still a few years from actually helping Florida, but the Panthers need to find hidden gems in the NHL Draft, given how many first-round picks they’ve traded away, and Sawchyn has as good a chance as anyone to be one.

A great feel-good story

Owen Brady will be at camp and it’s one of the best stories across hockey this summer.

The 20-year-old defenseman was once one of the better prospects in Canada — viewed as a real candidate to be picked in the 2021 NHL Draft — before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. He needed serious surgery, with part of a bone from his right leg transplanted to replace part of a bone in his right.

The Canadian didn’t play at all for two years in his teenage years and then came back, and notched 24 points in 80 games across the Ontario Junior Hockey League and Central Canada Hockey League in the last two seasons. Now, he’ll get a chance to compete at the highest level in Florida.