5 Florida Panthers to Watch at Tampa Prospect Tournament

FORT LAUDERDALE — Most of the Florida Panthers were back on the ice in some way or another on Thursday morning with the team’s youngsters gearing up for the Prospect Tournament on one ice sheet, the NHL guys on the other.

The Panthers will begin formal practices next Thursday morning when training camp opens, but the team’s prospects get three games in this weekend before coming back to Fort Lauderdale.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will host the annual four-team event in Wesley Chapel, Fla., with the Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes participating as usual.

The teams will play each other once over the four-day tournament — Florida gets Sunday off.

Any skater or goaltender on an entry-level contract (or less), provided they are 24 or younger and have less than 20 games of NHL experience, are eligible to participate in the tournament

Games start today with the Panthers playing Carolina at 2 p.m.

All games will be streamed either on the Panthers’ website or by the Lightning.

The Panthers have a number of top prospects they want to see a little bit more of before training camp opens despite not having much — if any — room on the Opening Night roster.

Making things even tougher on the youngsters is Florida reportedly bringing in a trio of veterans (forwards Noah Gregor and Tyler Motte as well as defenseman Ben Harpur) on professional tryouts for camp.

Still, a handful of players made quite an impression on the Panthers last year at camp and stuck around a lot longer than many expected before they were returned to their junior teams.

Now, two of them have turned pro and are going to be worth the watch.

Here is five of them:

FIVE FLORIDA PANTHERS PROSPECTS TO WATCH

• G Cooper Black

At 6-foot-8, Black is hard to miss. He was even harder to miss when he was wearing his green pads from Dartmouth College.

Black, 24, was with the Charlotte Checkers throughout their run to the Calder Cup Final although he did not play.

Undrafted out of Dartmouth, Black split last season between ECHL Savannah and AHL Charlotte, getting 15 wins in 24 games. He had three shutouts with the Checkers.

Not bad for a first pro season, eh?

• F Jack Devine

One of the top scorers in college hockey, Devine finally gets a shot at training camp with the Panthers after four stellar seasons at the University of Denver.

A seventh-round pick in 2022, Devine could have become a free agent after his senior season but he said he made it clear to the Panthers that he would be signing with them after the Pioneers were done. And, so he did.

Devine got to play a little in Charlotte at the end of the regular season and made an impact when he came off the bench to play at the end of the Calder Cup Final series against Abbottsford. Devine can score but has no problem feeding the puck as his 44 assists with Denver attests to.

A Hobey Baker Award finalist last season, Devine won the national championship twice at Denver and helped lead the Pioneers to the Frozen Four last season.

• D Mikulas Hovorka

The undrafted big man out of Czechia parlayed a strong showing in development camp and the Prospect Showcase into a very good training camp with the Panthers last year.

He remained with the Panthers up until the final preseason game of the year.

At Charlotte, the 24-year-old played in 60 games and was a counted on defender. He’s a shutdown guy, and at 6-6, can play a physical, shutdown game.

With the Panthers not having many high-end draft capital, finding players such as Hovorka is big moving forward.

Like Uvis Balinskis the year before him, Florida signed Hovorka out of the Czech Extraliga where he had played two seasons.

Marek Alscher, a third-round pick in 2022, is also one to watch on the Florida blueline.

Last year was also his first North American pro season and he played 53 games for the Checkers.

• F Gracyn Sawchyn

A veteran of a number of Florida training camps and the like, Sawchyn is done with junior hockey and ready to make some noise with the Panthers — or, more likely, the Checkers.

Sawchyn, a second round pick in 2022, scored 30 goals with 78 points for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL last season.

He should get an extended look at training camp. Paul Maurice has been a fan of his in the past.

• F Hunter St. Martin

A sixth-round pick in 2024, St. Martin showed out at training camp last year and got a lot of great experience.

Then, after going to Medicine Hat, he kept the good times rolling with 39 goals in 65 games for the Tigers.

St. Martin, 20, still needs to grow into his 6-2 frame although he looks a little bigger this time around than he did last summer. Playing with Sawchyn and Sandis Vilmanis here should be good for all three of them.

Vilmanis, after all, was another surprise at camp last year — and scored 27 points with the Checkers.

NHL PROSPECT TOURNAMENT

AdventHealth Center Ice, Wesley Chapel, Florida

• Friday: Panthers vs. Hurricanes, 2 p.m.; Predators vs. Lightning, 5
• Saturday: Hurricanes vs. Predators, 2; Panthers vs. Lightning, 5
• Monday: Panthers vs. Predators, noon; Hurricanes vs. Lightning, 3

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2024 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS 2025

FLORIDA PANTHERS

ON DECK

• NHL Free Agency: Opened June 1
• Prospect Showcase @ Tampa Bay Lightning: Today-Monday, Wesley Chapel
• Training Camp: Starts Thursday, Fort Lauderdale IcePlex
• Exhibition Games: Starts Sept. 21 @ Nashville (doubleheader)
• Championship Ring Celebration: Oct. 6; Time/Site TBA
• Opening Night: Oct 7 vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 5 p.m.
• Complete Florida Panthers 2025-26 Schedule