Yesterday marked the final day of the Florida Panthers’ Development Camp. The young Panthers will now go their separate ways; some off to prepare for their college hockey seasons and some to their respective junior teams. A few of the older players will resurface with the Panthers soon when training camp begins but most players who participated in the camp are at least a year or two away from making their Panther debuts and probably will not be seen until next year’s camp.
Here is what you may have missed from Development Camp:
- Wednesday was an off-ice day and it included a nutrition lesson at Whole Foods, a beach workout and a visit to Marlins stadium. You can check out video from the Whole Foods trip here.
- On day 5, the players participated in a shoot-out and a red vs. white scrimmage. You can watch the video over at the Panthers’ home page.
- The red team won the scrimmage 3-2. Notable goal-scorers included Rocco Grimaldi and Nick Bjugstad.
Quotes From Camp:
On the Panthers’ roster:
"We’re getting big up the middle and we’re going to be big on the back end, and very mobile. I like the way things have set up left, right, left D, right D. I’d like to add a few more on the right side as far as forwards are concerned but we’ve got good size on the left side and up the middle now and on the back end. Now we just have to fill up the right side with younger guys."
On Vincent Trocheck and Rocco Grimaldi:
"Those guys are really good hockey players. They’ve got good hockey sense, good quickness. They know where to go and both of them are fearless so it makes up for their lack of size."
On younger players making the team:
"They’re going to get an equal opportunity to make our team. I don’t care about age, I don’t care about anything but ability and performance. [Thats] what dictates who plays and who doesn’t."
On Peter Mueller and free agency:
"The door is open. We’re still not done. We’ve got almost three months before we drop the puck so we’re going to take our time and be patient and we’ll be ready when the season starts."
"He wants to be a star. He wants to play here and he wants to play right away."
Manager of player development Bryan McCabe:
On defenders Jonathan Racine and R.J. Boyd:
"They’re not the flashiest guys. They’re the meat and potato guys. They’re going to punish the other teams good players, finish their checks and keep everyone honest out there."
Second Round draft pick Ian McCoshen:
On being drafted:
"Its kind of overwhelming but in a sense its kind of a blessing because this is what you want to be. You want to be a pro hockey player and this is the first step towards that."
On his hip rehab:
"I feel great right now for sure. I’m not ready to skate yet but, I don’t know, in three weeks probably I’ll be ready to jump on the ice. I’m excited about it but you know you feel good but you don’t want to go too quick."
Thats it for Development Camp, next up for the Panthers is locking up some of their restricted free agents, especially Jacob Markstrom and possibly making a few free agent signings. It is also being reported that the Panthers and Barkov are close to making a deal which would be excellent to get done sooner than later so both sides can focus on the season ahead.