Panthers Opening Night Roster?

[HockeyRulez]

Panthers training camp roster was announced:
http://panthers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=650083&navid=DL|FLA|home

There are some young guys fighting to make the team, some older vets brought into camp, the kulikov situation, any possible trades before Saturday???


What will our opening night roster look like?

Click to read more...

 

[Dread Clawz]

Kulikov could be traded, but it sounds like he'll be signed. I think he'll be here on opening night. Goc, Bergy, and Gudbranson need further medical evaluation, so it seems like they all could not be in the lineup opening night. Harvey said Gudbranson won't be cleared for contact for two weeks. I debated whether or not Shore would make the team, but I went conservative and decided no. If Kovalev makes the team which I think he will, then we still have 13 forwards even with Goc and Bergy out. And Goc should be returning soon anyway.

Flash-Weiss-Versteeg
Huby-Matthias-Mueller
Upshall-Kopecky-Kovalev
Skille-Smithson-Parros
Santorelli

Kuba-Campbell
Kulikov-Weaver
Jovanovski-Ellerby
Strachan

 

[Ghoste]

Kulikov could be traded, but it sounds like he'll be signed. I think he'll be here on opening night. Goc, Bergy, and Gudbranson need further medical evaluation, so it seems like they all could not be in the lineup opening night. Harvey said Gudbranson won't be cleared for contact for two weeks. I debated whether or not Shore would make the team, but I went conservative and decided no. If Kovalev makes the team which I think he will, then we still have 13 forwards even with Goc and Bergy out. And Goc should be returning soon anyway.

Flash-Weiss-Versteeg
Huby-Matthias-Mueller
Upshall-Kopecky-Kovalev
Skille-Smithson-Parros
Santorelli

Kuba-Campbell
Kulikov-Weaver
Jovanovski-Ellerby
Strachan

This is exactly my lineup as well. I guess I would put Svatos as the other extra forward. With this schedule, I'd assume the two extra forwards and one extra defenseman will get into games.

With Huby, Mules, & Kovalev, we should have our best group of shootout shooters ever.

-ghoste

 

[HockeyRulez]

Kulikov could be traded, but it sounds like he'll be signed. I think he'll be here on opening night. Goc, Bergy, and Gudbranson need further medical evaluation, so it seems like they all could not be in the lineup opening night. Harvey said Gudbranson won't be cleared for contact for two weeks. I debated whether or not Shore would make the team, but I went conservative and decided no. If Kovalev makes the team which I think he will, then we still have 13 forwards even with Goc and Bergy out. And Goc should be returning soon anyway.

Flash-Weiss-Versteeg
Huby-Matthias-Mueller
Upshall-Kopecky-Kovalev
Skille-Smithson-Parros
Santorelli

Kuba-Campbell
Kulikov-Weaver
Jovanovski-Ellerby
Strachan

Do you think theres any possibility of any of the young guys (besides Huberdeau) making the team? James Wright, Quinton Howden, Michael Caruso, Alex Petrovic, Shore as well even though u dont have him on your list....

Or maybe its probably a little too early to say. We'd probably have a better understanding after a few days of camp...

 

[Dread Clawz]

This is exactly my lineup as well. I guess I would put Svatos as the other extra forward. With this schedule, I'd assume the two extra forwards and one extra defenseman will get into games.

With Huby, Mules, & Kovalev, we should have our best group of shootout shooters ever.

-ghoste

I actually would like Svatos to make the team, the only problem for me is contracts. Once Kuli is signed, or if we trade him, then we'll be at 50 contracts. So I assume they will be moving Deveaux soon to make room for Kovy. But if we sign Svatos also then we'd have to get rid of someone else. Santorelli comes to mind, but I think that's a waste of a compliance buyout. I'd just keep Santo, he scores every now and then and he can be alright in the shootout. I'd rather not get rid of a prospect or someone useful to S.A. just to make room for Svatos. Goc is supposedly coming back soon.

Do you think theres any possibility of any of the young guys (besides Huberdeau) making the team? James Wright, Quinton Howden, Michael Caruso, Alex Petrovic, Shore as well even though u dont have him on your list....

Or maybe its probably a little too early to say. We'd probably have a better understanding after a few days of camp...

I think Shore is really the only one with a legit chance, unless we suffer more injuries. I think he'll have to have a spectacular camp though, I'm not sure he's ready quite yet. I just went conservative.

 

[CoolburnIsGone]

Do you think theres any possibility of any of the young guys (besides Huberdeau) making the team? James Wright, Quinton Howden, Michael Caruso, Alex Petrovic, Shore as well even though u dont have him on your list....

Or maybe its probably a little too early to say. We'd probably have a better understanding after a few days of camp...

I dont think there's a possibility any of those guys make it. Keep in mind, Howden has had an up & down first season in the pro's. They probably are bringing him to camp to evaluate him for next season. I think the same thing can be said about Petrovic. He struggled to start this yr and then had to get benched before he started to turn it around.

Caruso is an RFA at years end so they want to evaluate him also to determine if he's worth keeping around. Plus with the depth we have on defense already, makes no sense to keep either Caruso or Petrovic right now with having 7 healthy d-men and Guds going to come back soon.

Shore and Wright would have the best chances to make the roster. Both can play center which is a current weakness due to Goc's injury. Shore has played well so far this yr but I'd be concerned bringing him up in his 1st pro season too. Especially coming from college, those players often hit a wall due to stamina of a longer season than they are used to (college they usually play around 40-45 games/yr). Wright has played in the NHL before and could fit well on a bottom 6 line so I could see him kept as a depth forward.

Keep in mind again that if Kovalev makes the opening night roster, we need to move at least 1 contract out so its possible someone even in camp could get moved. I assume it will probably be one of the guys in San Antonio like Deveaux but you can never rule out someone else. That trade is gonna be bad for us regardless I bet.