How the Florida Panthers align their bottom six may be one of the bigger things to watch in training camp this year. One of the others will be how Gerard Gallant will handle having four right handed NHL caliber defensemen on his roster.
It isn’t a necessity, but most teams like to have each of their defensive pairings to have one left-handed, and one right-handed player – one to play each side. Keeping the puck in at the blue line in the offensive zone along the boards, as well as clearing the puck in their own end become much easier having a player that shoots with both hands.
Some teams are able to do this, others are forced to have two players with the same stick hand. There are players that play defense, like wingers, who would actually play on their ‘off’ side.
So how does that pertain to the Panthers? Well after trading Dmitry Kulikov at the draft, acquiring Mark Pysyk as a part of the return, Florida swapped out one of their left handed shooters for a right hander. Then, when free agency hit, the Panthers added UFA Jason Demers – another righty – to the mix.
This is with Aaron Ekblad and Alex Petrovic already on the roster, both righties like Demers and Pysyk.
On the left side, Florida have Keith Yandle, Jakub Kindl and Michael Matheson all expected to make the roster, meaning that it could be one of the righties that will have to watch from the press box, neither are waivers exempt at this point in their careers.
While both will likely see the ice in some sort of a rotation, who has the leg up in getting the early playing time?
Pysyk was a former first round pick of the Buffalo Sabres back in 2010, and got his most extensive look at the NHL level this most recent season. In 55 games played, Pysyk registered 11 points (G, 10 A), while accumulating 50 penalty minutes.
On the other side, Petrovic was a second round pick of the Panthers the same year Pysyk was selected. He too saw his most extensive playing time at the NHL level, dressing for 66 contests. He tallied 17 points (2 G, 15 A) in that span, as well as 90 penalty minutes.
A deeper look at each other’s most recent campaign, as they both saw the most playing time of their career, and how they compare against one and another, offensively and defensively.
Generating Offense
| Petrovic | Stat | Pysyk |
| 27.69 | SF/60 | 29.01 |
| 10.09% | On Ice Shooting % | 7.43% |
| 2.79 | GF/60 | 2.15 |
| 8.00 | SCF/60 | 8.62 |
| 1.02 | P/60 | 0.62 |
| Slight Edge: Petrovic |
Pysyk was hurt by the fact he played on a bad Sabres team, and collectively scored the fifth fewest goals in the NHL. That’s why he finished with an on ice shooting percentage of 7.43%, three points lower than Petrovic. Impressively, Pysyk was good at generating shots at the opponent’s net, with a 29.01 SF/60. Mix that with the fact the Panthers scored the sixth most goals in the league, the same numbers he struggled in with the Sabres may become a strength.
He was also able to help generate nearly nine scoring chances per 60 minutes. Again, pretty impressive for what team he played for last year.
But the fact that Petrovic registered more than a point-per-60 minutes (don’t think offense when thinking of him), as well an above 10% on ice shooting clip, and the team nearly scored three goals per 60 minutes while he was on the ice, gave him the edge.
Suppressing Offense
| Petrovic | Stat | Pysyk |
| 29.01 | SA/60 | 27.86 |
| 93.56% | SV% | 92.27% |
| 1.91 | GA/60 | 2.15 |
| 7.05 | SCA/60 | 6.70 |
| Push |
Looking at the numbers, it is hard to argue against saying that Petrovic had the better season. The Panthers allowed less than two goals per 60 minutes while he was on the ice, and their team save percentage was nearly 94%.
But also looking at the same numbers you have to remember that Petrovic played for a team that won their division and had one of the better goalies in the league playing behind him.
Pysyk, despite playing on a far worse team than Petrovic put up eerily numbers, and even the ones he didn’t quite stack up on – you can argue the team he was had to of factored into it somehow.
While with the Sabres, a team that was in the middle of the pack in goals allowed, and was in the bottom ten in shots allowed per game, Pysyk was still able to put up respectable teams in suppressing the opposition. Pysyk posted a 6.70 Scoring Chances Against per 60 and allowed only 27.86 SA/60 while the Sabres overall allowed over 30 per game.
Where Petrovic had Roberto Luongo backing him up in net, Pysyk had Chad Johnson play the majority of the Sabres games. While he had a career year, he still isn’t Luongo.
Next: How Derek MacKenzie Fits Into Lineup
Both players are still young (24), and it would do them a great service to play as much as possible in terms of development, but competition could bring out more than what some extra minutes could.
Petrovic may get the advantage for being a returning player that Gerard Gallant is already familiar with, not too mention his physical play that wasn’t mentioned above (he led the team in hits last year) but on pure upside alone, Pysyk may get the call early on.