Florida Panthers: Connor Brickley battling for key minutes this season

The Florida Panthers have a bounty of forwards looking to crack the bottom six this season. Connor Brickley happens to be one of those players.

Brickley signed a one-year UFA contract ($750,000) this past summer with the Panthers returning to familiar territory.

The Panthers struck a deal last October by moving the 25-year-old to the Carolina Hurricanes for Brody Sutter. Sutter never played a game for the Panthers (now Winnipeg Jets property).

The Massachusetts product has seen limited playing time in the NHL, which contrasts how he was utilized in the AHL with the San Antonio Rampage (2013-15), Portland Pirates (2015-16) and Charlotte Checkers (2016-17):

• 2015/16 with Panthers: 23 GP, 1 G, 4 A, 5 PTS, 14 PIM
• 2013/17 AHL career numbers: 195 GP, 50 G, 52 A, 102 PTS, 153 PIM

Brickley’s first career NHL goal on October 13th, 2015 was indeed a memorable one:

The Panthers are approaching this season by inserting sandpaper and skilled players throughout the lineup. Brickley is a north-south player with a strong lower body that can force action down low and along the boards.

Brickley fell out of favor with the prior coaching staff due to some undisciplined penalties, but they were penalties that often came out of extreme effort and fortitude on the fore check. There was a severe lack of strong cycling pressure — the type of fore-check that generates havoc and turnovers—under Gerard Gallant and, most recently, Tom Rowe’s system.

Bob Boughner, in his first training camp as the new head coach of the Panthers, has been thoroughly impressed by Brickley’s play thus far:

The converted winger should mesh nicely with the young Panthers core if given a better opportunity on his second go-around with the organization.

The 2016-17 Panthers roster lacked identity and direction on their third and fourth lines. Maybe, just maybe, Brickley is a solution to the problem.