Panthers take best-player-available approach to Draft and think they landed a few steals
The Florida Panthers took a best-player-available approach in Bill Zito’s first NHL Entry Draft as general manager and it meant a lot of sweating out the waits until the Panthers were set to pick.
Multiple times throughout the second day of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft on Wednesday, Zito said, Florida’s draft room broke out into a miniature celebration when the team drafting one spot ahead of the Panthers opted not to take the top player on Florida’s draft board.
“On a personal level, I was pretty thrilled with the work that the scouts did because we had a lot of our higher rated picks available to us later than we had ever anticipated, so it was quite exciting,” said Zito, who just took over as the GM in September. “There were a number of players, who we were able to acquire, who we had rated far higher than where they went and I had a couple of very nice conversations with players, and I had the good fortune of telling them, ‘Hey, when the pick just prior to ours went and you weren’t taken, there was a little cheer in our room.’ Yay, we can get our guy! It was great.”
The results on Day 2 of the NHL Draft for the Panthers: three forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender with their ninth, and final, selection of the two-day 2020 Draft.
Florida started with a run on forwards, taking Finnish center Anton Lundell with its first-round pick Tuesday, then opening Day 2 with three more forwards. The Panthers then selected three straight defensemen before finishing the draft with one more forward in the seventh round and a goalie to wrap up a marathon, seven-hour final day of the Draft.
With the No. 43 overall pick in the second round, Florida took Swedish right wing Emil Heineman. In the third round, the Panthers took Quinnipiac Bobcats center Ty Smilanic with the No. 74 pick and Canadian right wing Justin Sourdif with No. 87 pick.
Florida then pivoted to defense in the middle rounds, taking three straight defesemen in the fourth and fifth rounds. In the fourth, the Panthers took Denver Pioneers defenseman Michael Benning with the No. 95 pick and Merrimack Warriors defenseman Zachary Uens with the No. 105 pick. With the No. 153 overall pick in the fifth, Florida took Finnish defenseman Kasper Puutio.
The Panthers closed out the Draft with two seventh-round picks, taking Swedish center Elliot Ekmark at No. 198 and Northeastern Huskies goaltender Devon Levi at No. 212. Florida added the Nos. 153 and 212 picks by trading the No. 137 overall pick in the fifth round to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
“Our focus was on the best player available,” Zito said. “We were fortunate enough to get a range of players and we’re really content, and happy with the skill level and ability of the players, as well as the character.”
The Panthers’ headliners on Day 2, unsurprisingly, were the first five players off the board. Heineman was the No. 26 European skater in the class, according to the NHL’s rankings, and Smilanic and Sourdif were both ranked among the top 25 North American skaters. All three were top-100 overall Draft prospects, according to ESPN.com, as were Benning and Uens.
Sourdif, whom Florida landed at No. 87, might be the biggest steal, as the NHL’s No. 24-ranked North American Skater and ESPN’s No. 61 prospect overall.
“We saw a two-way forward with skill and a chip on his shoulder, who can really contribute. That’s what we saw and that’s what we like — a skilled guy who played with some grit,” Zito said. “He’s just exactly sort of that combination of skill and compete that we’re looking for.”
Benning, the top defenseman the Panthers landed in the Draft, comes to South Florida with deep organizational ties. Brian Benning, the prospect’s father, was part of the inaugural Panthers roster in 1993 and Benning said he was wearing some of his father’s old Florida throwback shorts when Zito called him to tell him he was taking him in the fourth round.
“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.”
The COVID-19 pandemic made the Draft unusual at all levels. It happened about four months later than usual with no NHL Scouting Combine ahead of time and no in-person meetings or evaluation. The entire Draft was conducted remotely and some of the players picked have already started their new seasons.
Typically, the week after the Draft would bring some rookie or developmental camp. Instead, Zito has no idea when he’ll be able to bring some of the new prospects down to Coral Springs.
“It was a little funny talking to a couple of the young men and saying, ‘Well, I hope to meet you someday,’” Zito said. “It’s a little weird not being to plan even. What are we going to do? What are we going to see? But we also want to keep things in perspective, right? To be safe and to be smart, and to get our society through this and be leaders.”
