Florida Panthers News

There was initial concern that Marchand may miss the start of the regular season but he participated throughout training camp and head coach Bruce Cassidy expects him to be available on Thursday. With David Pastrnak out for the start of the year, Marchand will need to get off to a hot start for the Bruins to have success.

Bobrovsky had not been on the ice for the first two weeks of training camp but jumped right back between the pipes for Wednesday's practice. The start of the season for Florida has been pushed back to Sunday, so it looks like there's a chance that Bobrovsky could be ready for their season opener.

Bobrovsky has yet to take the ice for training camp and remains on the unfit to play list. With Bobrovsky still not on the ice, it seems highly unlikely that he will be available for Sunday's season opener vs. the Blackhawks. With Bobrovsky out, Chris Driedger and Samuel Montembeault will be the Panthers' goaltending duo.

Forsling is familiar with new Panthers bench boss Joel Quenneville from their days together in Chicago. Forsling has had a tough time becoming a full-time player in the NHL, never playing more than 43 games in a single-season (2019). He has 27 points (8G / 19A) in 122 career NHL games and will likely continue to serve a similar, fringe roster player role in Florida.

The Predators acquired the RFA this offseason and signed him to a two-year extension on Wednesday. Kunin, who is coming into his third full NHL season set career-highs in goals (15) and assists (16) in 63 games a season ago. Kunin opened Predators training camp skating on a line with Colton Sissons and Calle Jarnkrok.

Marchand underwent sports hernia surgery in mid-September and was expected to be sidelined until mid-January. On Thursday, the Bruins announced that Marchand has been skating regularly, will be there for the start of training camp and should be good to go for the start of the regular season.

In 2020, Reinhart was on-pace to set a new career-high in goals but when the season was paused he had 22 goals and 28 assists (50 points) in 69 games. Reinhart has not missed a game in three seasons, averaging 24 goals and 34 assists (58 points) per 82 games. With the addition of Taylor Hall, Reinhart could be pushed from the top-line in 2021 but should still finish with 20-plus goals and 30-plus assists.

Forsling had 26 points (8G / 16A) in 57 games with the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) during his first season in the Hurricanes' organization. He was acquired from the Blackhawks in the summer of 2019 in a deal that sent Calvin de Haan and Aleksi Saarela to Chicago. Given the fact that Carolina has such a deep blueline and Jake Bean is ahead of him on the AHL depth chart, Forsling likely won't be in the NHL in 2021.

Kulikov had two goals and eight assists (10 points) in 51 game with the Jets last season. Kulikov topped 100 huts for the sixth time in his 11-year career and will bring a physical element to the Devils blueline. His one-year deal buys Ty Smith an extra year of development before he likely becomes a full-time NHLer in 2022.

Nosek scored eight goals with seven assists (15 points) in 67 games in 2020. He has been super consistent but unspectacular during his time in Vegas, recording 15, 17 and 15 points in three seasons. Look for Nosek to be the Golden Knights' fourth line centre with Will Carrier and Ryan Reaves on his wings.

Rodrigues was acquired from Buffalo last February and then his rights were flipped to Toronto in the Kasperi Kapanen deal this summer. Toronto did not tender the RFA, so he was free to re-join the Penguins on Friday. Rodrigues had six goals and four assists (10 points) in 45 NHL games last year and GM Jim Rutherford said on Friday that he'll be on the third line with Mark Jankowski and Jared McCann to start 2021.

Verhaeghe scored nine goals with four assists (13 points) in 52 games in his rookie season in the NHL in 2020. The 25-year-old is a former third-round pick (2015) and led the AHL in goals (34) and points (82) in 2018-19. He's shown offensive ability at lower-levels in the past, now it's a matter of getting opportunity in Florida to showcase he can do it at the NHL-level.

Kunin is a pending RFA, who is projected to sign a contract in the range of $3.25M AAV, which would be $850K savings from Nick Bonino's $4.1M AAV cap hit. Kunin is coming off of the best season of his young career, scoring 15 goals with 16 assists (31 points) in 63 games and has even more upside in Nashville, where he'll be surrounded by more top-end talent.

Petry had one-year left on his six-year, $33M contract that he signed in 2015 but earned a fresh four-year extension and got a $750K AAV raise. Petry has recorded three-straight seasons of at last 40 points and has not missed a game over that stretch.