Live updates: Florida Panthers load up on forwards in early rounds of 2020 NHL Draft
The second and final day of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft is here and the Florida Panthers have seven chances to bolster their roster in the final six rounds Wednesday.
Follow along for live updates on the second through seventh rounds of the NHL Entry Draft:
7:07 p.m.: The Panthers close out their 2020 NHL Draft by taking a goaltender in the seventh round.
Florida had the extra seventh-round pick through a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier in the day and used it to take Devon Levi, an 18-year-old goalie from the Carleton Place Canadians of the Central Canadian Hockey League.
Levi led the Central Canadian Hockey League with a 1.47 goals against average, a .941 save percentage and eight shutouts, and was the Canadian Junior Hockey League Player of the Year. He’s now a freshman for the Northeastern Huskies.
6:48 p.m.: The Panthers’ penultimate pick in the 2020 NHL Draft is another speedy European forward.
Florida selected Swedish center Elliot Ekmark with the No. 198 pick of the NHL Draft. He’s the fifth forward the Panthers have taken so far in the Draft, the third from Europe and the second from Sweden. Florida opened the Draft by taking four straight forwards, then took three straight defensemen before going back to Ekmark in the seventh and final round.
Ekmark spent last season playing for Linkoping HC’s under-20 team in the Swedish Hockey League, scoring 12 goals with 14 assists in 31 games.
6:28 p.m.: The seventh and final round is here.
The Panthers have two picks left after landing one in their trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida has its own 12th pick in the round, then will select again 26th.
5:35 p.m.: The Panthers keep loading up on defensemen in the middle rounds of the NHL Entry.
Florida took a third straight defensemen in the fifth round, drafting Kasper Puutio with the No. 153 pick it acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Draft-day trade.
The Finnish defenseman scored 28 points in 56 games last season in the Western Hockey League. He’s now back in Finland playing with Oulun Karpat of Liiga. He was second among rookie defensemen in the Western Hockey League in scoring last year.
4:58 p.m.: The Panthers have made their first trade of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Florida swapped the No. 137 pick — its lone pick in the fifth round — to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Nos. 153 and 212 picks.
4:30 p.m.: Michael Benning was probably the only prospect wearing authentic team-issued retro Panthers shorts on the second day of the NHL Draft on Wednesday.
As chance would have it, he wound up getting selected by Florida.
Brian Benning, the defenseman’s father, spent the final two years of his 13-year NHL career playing in South Florida. He’s an original Panther, who played for the team when it began in 1993, so his son had a pair of hand-me-down shorts on as he watched Day 2 of the Draft.
“I don’t know if it’s foreshadowing or not, but I thought that was pretty cool,” Benning said. “It’s kind of amazing that my dad was here at one time, and I think it’s just kind of a great experience and a really good organization to be a part of.”
3:38 p.m.: After opening the 2020 NHL Draft by taking four straight forwards, the Panthers are doubling up on defensemen in the fourth round.
Florida followed up its pick of Michael Benning by taking fellow defenseman Zachary Uens with the No. 105 overall pick.
The Canadian defenseman is a sophomore for the Merrimack Warriors and scored 18 points in 34 games as a freshman last season. He led Merrimack defensemen in shots and was the Warriors’ leader in penalty minutes in his debut season.
3:14 p.m.: The Panthers have finally made a move for a defenseman in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
After taking forwards with each of its four picks in the first three rounds, Florida selected Canadian defenseman Michael Benning with the second pick in the fourth round.
Benning, who comes from a family of NHL players and executives, scored 12 goals with 63 assists in 54 games last season with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the American Junior Hockey League. He now plays for the Denver Pioneers.
2:55 p.m.: The Panthers are taking another forward in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Florida selected Justin Sourdif with the No. 87 overall pick in the Draft. The Canadian right wing is the fourth forward the Panthers have selected so far in the first three rounds of the NHL Draft.
In 57 games with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League last season, Sourdif scored 26 goals and dished out 28 assists.
2:26 p.m.: The Panthers go with an American with their first pick in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft and it might be a steal.
Ty Smilanic, a center from Denver, is the No. 74 pick of the Draft. He currently plays for the Quinnipiac Bobcats and was the No. 43 prospect in the class, according to NHL Network.
Last season, the 18-year-old played with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program and scored seven goals with 15 assists in 34 games.
2:15 p.m.: We’re moving along into the third round of the NHL Draft and the Panthers have two picks coming up in the round.
First, they’ll use their own pick with the 12th selection of the round. They also have the No. 25 pick in Round 3 via the Colorado Avalanche.
1:15 p.m.: Based on the NHL Network’s Draft rankings, the Panthers’ decision to take Emil Heineman with the No. 43 pick was a reach. Florida, however, was high on the Swedish left wing and expressed as much to him throughout the Draft process.
Heineman said he talked the Panthers twice in the lead-up to the 2020 NHL Draft and their feedback was “all positive.”
“It’s a dream come true, obviously. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little kid,” the 18-year-old said. “My game is basically like combining a physical game with a lot of skill. I do whatever it takes to win and play with the team.”
12:29 p.m.: The Panthers spend their second pick of the 2020 NHL Draft on Emil Heineman, a left wing from Sweden.
Heineman is the No. 99 overall prospect in the NHL Draft, according to NHL Network, and was a prolific goal-scorer in a Swedish junior league last season. In 29 games with Leskands IF’s junior team in the Swedish Hockey League, the winger scored 26 goals with 15 assists.
11:50 a.m.: The second day of the NHL Draft is officially underway. The Detroit Red Wings used the top pick in the second round to select Swedish defenseman William Wallinder.
The Panthers are due to pick 12th in the second round.
11 a.m.: It’s Draft day again and the Panthers have seven picks across the last six rounds Wednesday. They’ll kick things off in the second round with the No. 43 pick, then pick again in every round but the sixth. Florida also has two picks each in the third and fourth rounds.
The full rundown of picks:
▪ Second round: No. 43.
▪ Third round: Nos. 74 and 87.
▪ Fourth round: Nos. 95 and 105.
▪ Fifth round: No. 137.
▪ Sixth round: No picks.
▪ Seventh round: No. 198.
The Panthers’ second pick in the third round comes from the Colorado Avalanche, their first in the fourth comes from the Ottawa Senators and their fifth-round pick comes from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On Tuesday, Florida had the No. 12 pick in the first round of the NHL Draft and selected Anton Lundell, a 19-year-old center from Finland. The forward spent the past two seasons with HIFK of Finland’s Liiga and he scored 10 goals with 18 assists for a career-high 28 points last season.
“Playing in Finland’s top pro league for three years as a teenager, Anton has developed into a highly talented two-way forward,” general manager Bill Zito said. “He is a responsible, cerebral player who possesses great hockey sense.”
Lundell also helped Finland win the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, scoring four points in seven games while playing alongside top scorer Aleksi Heponiemi, who was a second-round pick by the Panthers in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
Florida loaned Haponiemi to Modo Hockey of Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan in August with the start of the 2020-21 NHL season delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 4:30 PM.
