Projecting the Florida Panthers' Opening Night Roster

We're now less than one week from the start of the NHL season. Teams are finalizing their rosters and signing their RFAs, and players are biding their time until the regular season opens. The Panthers had, on paper, their best season in franchise history last year, finishing fourth overall in the NHL. In a full 82 games, they would have likely been pushing 50 wins and over 100pts as a team. Unfortunately, they ran up against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, and although the Panthers put up a fight, the powerhouse Lightning would not be denied. So what did Panthers' GM Bill Zito do? He went out and built up his roster even further. The "Cats" are currently stacked at all positions, with too many good players for the positions they have open. Let's see how the lineup is filling out, starting at forward:

Carter Verhaeghe - Sasha Barkov - Sam Reinhart

Jonathan Huberdeau - Sam Bennett - Patric Hornqvist

Joe Thornton - Anton Lundell - Owen Tippett

Frank Vatrano - Eetu Luostarinen - Mason Marchment

Maxim Mamin

Ryan Lomberg

The loss of both Anthony Duclair and Noel Accari for the start of the year (and Accari for an extended period of time) means this lineup will be shaken up down the road. Hornqvist and Tippett will bump down to make room for Duclair, and Thronton and Lundell will likely be shifted throughout the bottom 6 once Acciari returns. What's shocking is that even with the loss of those two key players, the Panthers are still icing a deep lineup, with all four lines looking like they'll be able to contribute on the regular. While Marchment will slot in for now, once Duclair returns expect him to be the 13th forward, whereas Luostarinen may end up back in the AHL upon Acciari's return.

On defence, the return of a top blueliner makes this Panthers' blueline one of the best in their division:

Mackenzie Weegar - Aaron Ekblad

Gustav Forsling - Radko Gudas

Olli Juolevi - Brandon Montour

Marcus Nutivaara

Kevin Connauton

Matt Kiersted

The return of Ekblad brings the Panthers' defence back to its former glory. They played well with him out of the lineup, there's no doubt, but having him in the mix makes them a substantially better team. The recent addition of Olli Juolevi leaves Nutivaara out of the lineup for now, but Juolevi still has some work to do to prove himself as a full-time NHLer. Along with Nutivaara, both Kevin Connauton and Matt Kiersted will have a shot at the 7th D spot, with Connauton bringing the experience and Kiersted looking to build upon his first 7 NHL games from last season.

In net, the Panthers are spending a ton of money on a former All-Star but may end up starting their young rookie more often:

Sergei Bobrovsky

Spencer Knight

Chris Gibson

Everyone and their dog knows that Bobrovsky has not had a great start to his tenure in Florida. Last season was an improvement on the year before, but Bob was getting consistently outplayed by Chris Driedger and wasn't able to provide much help come playoff time. Driedger is now gone, taken by the Kraken in the expansion draft, and in his place is 20-year old Spencer Knight. In the Panthers' last-ditch effort to try and steal their playoff series from Tampa Bay, Knight came in and looked like he was ready to carry the team on his back if he had to. Unfortunately, the Lightning were simply too good, but Knight absolutely showed himself as being ready for NHL duty. Bobrovsky is still the starter for now, but Knight could steal the crease from him by Christmas time.

What do you think of this roster for the Panthers, and what would you change?

Photo credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports