George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers have claimed two defensemen off waivers in the past three days, taking Noah Juulsen on Monday after he was released by Montreal.
On Saturday, Florida claimed Gustav Forsling from Carolina.
It appears, since Juulsen was in camp in Canada and is a native of British Columbia, he will not be available to the Panthers right away not only because of quarentine issues but he will also have to get a U.S work visa.
Still, it looks like the Panthers are trying to fix their defense on the fly.
General manager Bill Zito said the Panthers were going to extensively scour the waiver wire once players started popping up and, true to his word, Zito has been active.
With the newest claim, Florida currently has 12 defensemen on its camp roster but that includes Markus Nutivaara who has yet to participate in any workouts because he is on the ‘unfit to play’ list.
We do not know what is going on with Nutivaara — nor the other two players (Sergei Bobrovsky and Juho Lammikko) on the list.
The two newest defensemen have a spot on the roster due to Florida picking them off the waiver wire.
Florida has some decisions to make now with the final roster due by Wednesday.
On Monday, coach Joel Quenneville alluded to Florida carrying the maximum 23 players on the NHL roster as well as the full allotment of six players on the taxi squad.
Yet by bringing in two new players, one has to think Nutivaara — at the very least — will start the season on the injured list.
“You can never have enough D,” Quenneville said during his media session Monday. He apparently was not aware Florida won its claim for Juulsen although he knew Florida put one in.
“(Juulsen) is a young defenseman with some promise. … It changes the picture on the backend a little bit, so we definitely have some options we will look at going into the start of the year. It certainly gives us a lot more options.”
So, what do the additions mean for the Florida blueline?
On Monday, Forsling was running the second power play for a time (as was rookie Brady Keeper) but working on a fourth pairing with Kevin Connauton who is in camp on a try out.
Keith Yandle, the second highest-paid defenseman on the team behind Aaron Ekblad, remained on the second unit away from the main squad for the second consecutive day.
Chase Priskie replaced Connauton on the second group Monday.
With the season opener creeping up, the Panthers have been very consistent in their top four: Ekblad has been with MacKenzie Weegar with Anton Stralman and Riley Stillman pairing up.
Free agent signee Radko Gudas has been the constant on the third pairing with various partners — including Yandle.
The Panthers are expected to carry eight defensemen on their 23-man roster (they usually have seven) with at least two more on the taxi squad.
Again, because Forsling and Juulsen were claimed off waivers, they would have to start on the 23-man roster.
As far as Juulsen goes, he was a promising prospect within the Canadiens system until, according to the Montreal Gazette, he was struck in the face twice during a game against the Capitals on Nov. 19, 2018.
Per the game report, the first shot that struck Juulsen caught him in the visor and he returned to the game; the second sent him to the hospital with a facial fracture.
Juulsen, according to the Gazette, struggled with chronic headaches and has only played in three NHL and 16 AHL games since being hurt.
After getting hurt, Juulsen came back for a few games but ultimately missed 10 months after being injured before returning with the Canadiens’ AHL team in Laval.
Juulsen, now 23, played in 13 AHL games last season.
Various reports out of Montreal have praised the play of Juulsen in camp only the Canadiens needed to clear up some roster space because of cap issues and hoped to sneak Juulsen through waivers.
Florida jumped on the chance to snag a player who was the 26th overall pick of the 2015 draft.
Montreal coach Claude Julien told reporters that Shane Churla, whom Florida hired as its director of amateur scouting after he spent seven years in the Canadiens’ front office, likely had a big say in Florida putting in the claim.
“Shane’s the one I think that had a big impact in drafting Noah and, obviously, he believes that Noah can find his game even though he hasn’t played much in the last two years,” Julien said per The Gazette.
“We don’t know what they’re thinking or what they want to do with him. We were hoping to keep him and, unfortunately, he was picked up by them and maybe for his sake to be an NHL player — if he’s on their roster — it’s an advantage to him. …
“You know we’re going to wish him good luck. He’s a good individual and … the last couple of years have been tough on him. So hopefully he finds his game.”