With few spots available, one player making his case to crack Panthers roster
At the worst, Jack Studnicka put himself firmly on the Florida Panthers’ radar on Monday night.
At the best? He very well might have worked himself onto the Opening Night roster.
Studnicka scored twice — opening scoring 56 seconds into regulation and capping it 28 seconds into overtime on the power play — to lead the Panthers to a 4-3 preseason win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena.
“It’s cool,” Studnicka said of his overtime goal. “I don’t know if I have one of those on an NHL ice sheet. Preseason or not, it’s cool.”
It’s also the type of performance that gets you noticed as a player on the fringe. With three forwards in captain Aleksander Barkov, star winger Matthew Tkachuk and fourth-line center Tomas Nosek out long-term, the Panthers have openings to round out their roster that might not have previously been available.
Twelve forward spots are all but set: Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Even Rodrigues, Mackie Samoskevich, Jesper Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Jonah Gadjovich and Luke Kunin.
That leaves two openings. Florida has four veteran forwards with NHL experience beyond those dozen still in camp: Studnika and Nolan Foote, both on two-way deals; as well as Noah Gregor and Tyler Motte, both of whom are with the club in training camp on professional tryouts.
“It’s a brand new system for them, a brand new style of play,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We think they can all play it.”
But Studnicka is the one of the four who is producing, with three goals and four points through three preseason games.
He opened scoring 56 seconds into regulation Monday on a backhanded shot after getting a feed from Samoskevich. His game-winner came on the opening shift of overtime after Carolina erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. The Panthers, playing with a four-on-three advantage, cycled the puck in the offensive zone before defenseman Jeff Petry fired from the point. The off-target shot bounced off Studnicka’s legs before the forward buried a shot from up close in the slot.
“If you’re applying for a job and you get a couple of goals in the game, it feels good,” Maurice said. “It’s confidence more than anything else.”
Studnicka, a second-round pick by the Boston Bruins in 2017, has played 107 career games in the NHL with 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) to his name but spent all of last season in the American Hockey League playing for the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate.
“He’s a great kid,” said Panthers forward Brad Marchand, who overlapped with Studnicka in Boston. “I’ve seen him really kind of grow and mature. His first year in camp, I thought he was gonna make the team at 18, 19 years old. He was incredible. His speed and just his touch around the net is really impressive. ... He’s flying around, and sometimes those are the guys that you just need that break.”
Added Studnicka: “Regardless of injuries or not, my plan was to come into camp and try to at least put my name in the conversation.”
Consider his name firmly in the mix.
“I think my game really fits the system that they’re trying to play really well,” Studnicka said. “I like to play fast with my stick out to try and break up plays. Goal scoring aside, I think it’s been good so far.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
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