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2021 Entry Draft Day

July 23, 2021, 10:26 AM ET [10 Comments]
Matt Ross
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
After a lackluster Expansion Draft earlier this week, hockey fans turn their attention to the Entry Draft tonight in hopes of their team making some good picks - but more importantly, everyone is hoping for some trade action.

I was really disappointed in the Expansion Draft. Shame on the people who leaked all the picks. Even if you tried your best to avoid them, you undoubtedly came across some by accident - took the fun out of it.

And how weird was it that there was no side deals/trades announced on that night? As of now Seattle has a strange looking team. A pretty solid defense, but the forward group is lacking and I certainly thought they would take a veteran goalie as a backup.

My guess is a lot of these moves were made with the thought of trading tonight at the draft? But after the lack of moves yesterday from the Kraken, I’m not really sure. Perhaps the majority of moves were made with the idea of preserving cap space (I think it’s $29M) and the thinking is to buy a bunch of guys come Free Agency?

Either way it was disappointing.

There were no surprises with the Kraken taking Driedger, but, again…I thought for sure they would take a vet to back him up. I’m very curious to see how he’ll do in Seattle as the true #1. Lots of factors come into play for a goalie to have success (defense/team in front of him, playing style, confidence, etc.), but how do you guys think he’ll do in this role? Was his time in Florida a “fluke” or has he become “the” guy now?

Good luck to #60!



Tonight’s Draft

I don’t anticipate the Panthers getting involved in any sort of crazy trades tonight. I could see them moving someone to free up some space though and I say this because I listened to a post-Expansion Draft interview yesterday with Elliotte Friedman where he said Florida’s main focus appears to be re-signing guys and getting that out of the way.

Friedman:

“I think Florida is trying to get some extensions done. Wennberg, Bennet, Verhaeghe and possibly even Barkov. I think they’re trying to get a lot of their business done.”

With that in mind, maybe the Vatrano rumor still happens as a means to save money and put it towards one of the above guys? I could see something like that happening, but not any sort of blockbuster deal this time around.

Friedman also described this years draft as a “crapshoot” and said that a lot of teams may be looking to deal before the draft because they don’t really know what they’ll get out of drafting.

With that in mind…from Litter Box Cats:

The Panthers currently hold a total of six picks this weekend. They have their own in each of rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 and Winnipeg’s pick in the seventh round. Florida traded its third round pick for Brandon Montour and acquired the seventh-rounder from the Jets 2.0 for defenseman Bogdan Kiselevich (remember him?). Florida’s own seventh round pick was part of the six-asset swap with the Chicago Blackhawks on April 8.

After selecting rapidly ascending Finn Anton Lundell with the 12th overall pick last year, the Cats hold the 24th overall pick tonight. Zito will actually step to the virtual podium 23rd as the naughty Arizona Coyotes (that’s bad desert dog!) have forfeited the 11th overall pick.

Some prospects that could be on the Cats radar (or not) at 24 include Isak Rosen, Aatu Raty, Zachary Bolduc, Zachary L’Heureux, Nikita Chibrikov, Fabian Lysall and Xavier Bourgault. In SBN’s Mock Draft, LBC selected defenseman Carson Lambos for the Cats as many a desired forward were scooped by my fellow site managers.“


Panthers Selections:

Round 1: #24
Round 2: #56
Round 4: #120
Round 5: #152
Round 6: #184
Round 7: #210

They’re obviously good at the goalie position, so I assume they’ll target a forward or defensemen, but going so late (and not trading up), my guess is they’ll just take the best available guy when they’re on the clock.

There’s a good article from Florida Hockey Now that discusses the draft. I found this little tidbit interesting:

Due to the Panthers success this season, they are not drafting as high up as usual — and that’s just fine with Zito.

The Panthers definitely could get used to drafting in the bottom third of the NHL. That means their previous season was a success.

Friday’s draft spot is the lowest primary slot in franchise history.

The previous highest pick Florida had (not counting No. 25 in 2010 which came from a trade) has been No. 23.

Florida took Henrik Borgstrom in that slot in 2016 and Mike Matheson there in 2012.

In Florida’s previous four drafts, they have picked between 10 and 15.

With so many picks in front of them, the Panthers don’t really have a good idea who may be available to them — but with a big list, they can be prepared. And, if a player Florida really liked drops as the draft goes on, the team could always move up via trade.“


Here is the order for the first round tonight:

1. Buffalo

2. Seattle

3. Anaheim

4. New Jersey

5. Columbus

6. Detroit

7. San Jose

8. Los Angeles

9. Vancouver

10. Ottawa

11. Arizona (pick will be forfeited)

12. Chicago

13. Calgary

14. Philadelphia

15. Dallas

16. NY Rangers

17. St. Louis

18. Winnipeg

19. Nashville

20. Edmonton

21. Boston

22. Minnesota

23. Detroit (from Washington)

24. Florida

25. Columbus (from Toronto)

26. Minnesota (from Pittsburgh)

27. Carolina

28. Colorado

29. New Jersey (from NY Islanders)

30. Vegas

31. Montreal

32. Columbus (from Tampa Bay)

Here’s Zito working baby face ahead of the draft tonight. What are they going to target?



Looks like things might already be starting to move. That’s the thing about winning the Cup, it usually comes with the price of having to unload a lot of guys. Wouldn’t mind seeing a couple more Tampa fellas get shipped out - keep on moving, boys 😺







BTW - How about Yzerman? That guy is a magician. He’ll have the Detroit machine built back up soon.

The Big Question

The big question for tonight that everyone is wondering is: Jones and Eichel - are they getting moved and to where?

The asking price for Jones seems to be huge.

_______________________

I know I’ve been saying it all week, but I need some wild stuff to happen tonight. Everyone does. C’mon, hockey gods!

Check out the Cats schedule for the upcoming season. Go Panthers!

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