How Forsling went from last-minute waiver addition to top-pairing defenseman for Panthers
Gustav Forsling knew he had no time to delay when the Florida Panthers came calling in the final days before the 2020-21 NHL season began.
January suddenly became a whirlwind for the defenseman. On Jan. 8, the Carolina Hurricanes waived him — a victim of their surplus of talent on defense. On Jan. 9, the Panthers claimed him and immediately Forsling packed up his car. He had an 11-hour drive to make. He wanted to make to be at practice in Sunrise on Jan. 10.
“I’m just going to do my best to prove to this team I’m here to take a spot,” Forsling said after his first practice with his new team in January, just hours after he arrived in South Florida at 1:30 a.m. following his trek from Raleigh, North Carolina.
In the space of 48 hours, he went from facing the prospect of another season in the minors or on the taxi squad to a fresh chance with the Panthers. Florida spent the entire offseason retooling itself on the fringes, with a first-year general manager and a second-year coach, and the Panthers kept tinkering all the way up until the week before the regular season began. They claimed Forsling off waivers just four days before the NHL season began.
Right now, it’s nearly as big a move as any Florida made in general manager Bill Zito’s busy first offseason. In 23 games, Forsling has two goals and four assists and leads all of the Panthers’ healthy defensemen with 2.1 shots on goal per game. On Tuesday, Florida bumped him up to its top defensive pairing, playing next to defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the wake of star defenseman Aaron Ekblad’s likely season-ending leg fracture, and Forsling delivered an assist in the Panthers’ 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings.
Coach Joel Quenneville, who previously coached Forsling with the Chicago Blackhawks from 2016 to 2019, liked what he saw from the 24-year-old on the top pairing, and Forsling will get a chance to build on his success Thursday when Florida (23-9-4) wraps up a two-game series with the Red Wings (12-21-4) at 7 p.m. at the BB&T Center.
“Fors has been really good for us. Weegs has been pretty good and not playing the right side in a long time he seemed to be comfortable over there, too, so that pair is strong,” Quenneville said Tuesday. “He’s playing very well. He’s playing important minutes. In Ek’s absence, all of a sudden that first matchup is a big ask in a short amount of time.”
Additions like Forsling have helped fuel the Panthers’ rapid-fire ascension to the ranks of the league’s best teams. Florida didn’t necessarily go out and target the biggest names on the market — Zito and Co. bought low on players they trusted to break out in new roles.
Forsling was the most extreme example. He played in 122 games across three seasons for the Blackhawks, then Chicago traded him to the Hurricanes in 2019. He went to the American Hockey League and never played in a game for Carolina before it waived him in January.
Quenneville, though, always thought highly of Forsling — he said he was twice the Blackhawks’ best player in training camp — and assistant general manager Paul Krepelka and senior advisor Rick Dudley, who both previously worked for the Hurricanes, pushed for the Panthers to claim him.
“Krepelka was really the guy who went to bat for Forsling and pounded the drum,” Zito said. “He and Rick Dudley, who also had been in Carolina, were adamant that he could help us.”
So far, Zito’s faith has been rewarded. Forsling’s defensive metrics are all solid — albeit with most of his minutes coming against lower lines — and his willingness to shoot helps him approximate some of what made Ekblad so good next to Weegar. His assist Tuesday came on a slap shot from the point, which winger Brett Connolly deflected into the net.
Even the most optimistic outlooks within the organization didn’t project this, but he has passed every test so far. It only made sense for Quenneville to give Forsling this shot.
Said Forsling: “I’ve just got to keep proving them right.”
Panthers sign top prospect Knight
Spencer Knight is officially heading to Florida.
The Panthers’ first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, Knight signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Florida on Wednesday after wrapping up his career with the Boston College Eagles. He immediately becomes one of the NHL’s top goaltending prospects after leading to the United States to a gold medal at the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships with a 5-1-0 record, 1.63 goals against average, .940 save percentage and three shutouts.
“We are thrilled to have agreed to terms on a contract with Spencer,” Zito said in a statement. “He is an immensely talented and dynamic young goaltender who has been an elite player at every level that he has played. From the collegiate ranks to international tournaments, Spencer has consistently elevated his game, a testament to his work ethic, compete and character. We are excited for him to take the next step in his career with the Panthers and look forward to his future with our club.”
As a sophomore at Boston College this season, Knight is a finalist for Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey’s best player. In 21 games, the goaltender went 16-4-1 with a .932 save percentage, 2.18 goals against average and three shutouts.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 1:41 PM.
