‘You see the confidence:’ What Florida Panthers have seen from Mackie Samoskevich
As the Florida Panthers got toward the tail end of their schedule before the All-Star Break, coach Paul Maurice knew he wanted to get a semi-extended look at what Mackie Samoskevich had to offer. Florida’s top prospect had been performing fairly well with the Charlotte Checkers, the Panthers’ American Hockey League affiliate, and warranted another chance at the NHL level after breaking camp with the team.
The 21-year-old winger and 2021 first-round draft pick got that chance, playing in every game of Florida’s four-game win streak last week. The Panthers loaned him back to Charlotte on Sunday so he can continue getting game reps with Florida off until Tuesday.
While Samoskevich didn’t produce a point in that stretch, the rookie showed off some of the intangibles the Panthers hope will be a benefit to the team in the long run. In about 46-and-a-half minutes on the ice over those four games, the Panthers produced 55.13 percent of shot attempts when Samoskevich was on the ice. He had six shots on goal as well as four hits and a blocked shots while playing a defensively sound game.
“You want a young guy to figure out what he can get away with and what he can’t,” Maurice said. “We want him to get away with as much as he can, but there are certain rules you have to adhere to. This stint here, he was very, very good. He was more dynamic, tried more stuff. You see the confidence in him starting to grow.”
Samoskevich built up that confidence during his time in the AHL. In 32 games for the Checkers, Samoskevich has scored 11 goals and added another 15 assists.
“I got to play a lot of hockey,” Samoskevich said, “so I got to learn from mistakes and stuff like that. It’s all about confidence. I got to gain some down there and brought some back up here. It’s about working on yourself and looking at the big picture.”
And once he got back to the Panthers, Samoskevich played with an assortment of linemates during that stretch with Maurice shuffling players around as his lineup got healthier.
The original plan, Maurice said, was to see Samoskevich on the right wing with Anton Lundell at center and Eetu Luostarinen on the left wing. He only got to see that combination for about nine minutes on Saturday in Florida’s 3-2 overtime win over the New York Islanders.
With Aleksander Barkov sidelined with an unspecified lower-body when Samoskevich was recalled, Maurice put Samoskevich on Florida’s third line with Evan Rodrigues and Kevin Stenlund in his first game back on Jan. 22 against the Nashville Predators and kept the line of Lundell, Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart together.
When Barkov returned on Jan. 24 against the Arizona Coyotes, Maurice opted to have Samoskevich play with Barkov and Rodrigues, a trio that played together for the Arizona game and all of Florida’s shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday before Maurice flipped Samoskevich and Reinhart in the second period Saturday against the Islanders.
“My original idea with all of this was to see Samoskevich play with Lundell and Luostarinen,” Maurice said. “That’s what I wanted to see when we brought him back up. Barkov happened to get hurt, so the whole thing kind of just timed out for the other line to go back together and for Samoskevich to start with Barkov, but that’s what I wanted to see, and I was happy with it.”
When Samoskevich will get his next crack at the NHL is unknown. It most likely depends on if either Nick Cousins or Will Lockwood — both of whom were in concussion protocol when the Panthers entered the All-Star Break — is ready to return when the Panthers resume play on Tuesday.
But one thing is certain: His potential is being noticed.
“He’s gonna be a great player,” Rodrigues said. “I remember the first day of camp, 10 minutes into the first practice we had with him, I remember thing that he’s got a hell of a shot. He’s got speed. He’s got all the talent in the world to play in the NHL. ... He’s just going to continue to get better and better and continue to grow.”
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