The Florida Panthers are 10-7-2 through their first 19 games of the 2026-27 season, good enough for the fifth-best record in the Atlantic Division and a two-point cushion for the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, down on the farm, the Charlotte Checkers are the best team in the Atlantic Division and the seventh-best team in the AHL.
Although no player on the Checkers has reached 20 points like Matthew Tkachuk (27), Seth Jones (21), or Brady Tkachuk (20), their two best players are Jack Devine and Gracyn Sawchyn, each with 12 points. Moreover, Devine was recently called up to the Panthers earlier in the week and made his season debut on Tuesday against Columbus. He was a minus-1 with two shots on goal and skated 9:14 while Florida secured a 4-1 win.
He skated alongside fellow Checkers player Cole Schwindt, who is also on the main roster at the moment, appearing in 10 games with no points and a minus-5 rating.
Charlotte Checkers hold narrow lead in AHL's Atlantic Division
Despite losing their last contest to the Providence Bruins on Wednesday, the Checkers are still two points up on the Hartford Wolf Pack, 19-17. Charlotte is the only team in the division to reach nine wins, playing in the second-most games behind Hartford. Surprisingly, the club has accumulated just 195 penalty minutes in 16 games, ranking 17th in the AHL, a stark contrast to its parent club, as Florida has 300 in 19 games to lead the NHL.
Thus far, only four AHL teams have reached double digits in wins, with league leaders including Grand Rapids, Laval, and Manitoba all tied at 11, with Utica right behind them at 10. Three teams remain tied at nine victories, including Tucson and Abbotsford, with Charlotte looking for the 10th win on Saturday against Lehigh Valley.
Overall, nine Checkers players have scored a goal, with Devine leading the way with nine lamplighters, followed by Nathan Smith with seven. In addition, 24 players have registered a point, while Kai Schwindt, with nine games played, is the only one to play more than three games and not have a point. Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald leads all skaters with 31 penalty minutes, followed by Marek Alscher with 25.
Interestingly, the Checkers’ best plus/minus players are all NHL veterans. At the bottom, Sam Lafferty is minus-7, while recently acquired defenseman Alex Petrovic is minus-6. At the other end of the spectrum, Brian Pinho is plus-8 in nine games, joined by Tobias Björnfot at plus-6 and several others at plus-4, including Devine. Considering Charlotte has a goal differential of only plus-2, it’s no surprise to see only seven skaters have a positive plus/minus rating, with another six at even and 16 with a negative one.
Checkers goaltending numbers mirror the Panthers' early struggles
At the NHL level, both Jacob Markström (.900) and Akira Schmid (.886) have produced subpar statistics, with neither netminder ranking among the best at their position. Unfortunately, it’s almost the same story at the AHL level. Charlotte’s go-to guy appears to be Kirill Gerasimyuk, who has made nine appearances, producing a 4-4-0 record with an .885 SV%.
Cooper Black, who recently became the tallest goalie in NHL history when he debuted against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 26, is 3-1-1 in five games, with a .911 SV%. Finally, their other partner, Tyler Muszelik, is 2-1-0 with a .879 SV%. All three goalies have surrendered fewer than 2.77 goals per game, with Gerasimyuk sporting the lowest total at 2.63.
Although it’s way too early in both the NHL and AHL seasons to predict where either the Panthers or Checkers will finish, it appears, at least from a standings point of view, that Charlotte is off to a bit of a better start. With injuries dictating the course of both clubs' seasons, can the Checkers continue to win games when key players are on the main roster, or will the Panthers be healthy all year, allowing their minor league team to challenge for a Calder Cup? Only time will tell.
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