George Richards, FHN Publisher
For the first time since 2021, the Florida Panthers have a first-round pick in the NHL draft.
If they decide to keep the selection and not use it as a chip in a big trade before the draft starts on June 26 in Buffalo, that player will join Mackie Samoskevich and Anton Lundell the only first-round picks the team has made this decade.
So, who will that be?
Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now asked a number of writers to make their selections for a mock draft.
Including this one.
There isn’t much surprise to the top pick: TSN’s Mark Masters does the honors for the Maple Leafs and takes Gavin McKenna.
Now, there is a little bit of conjecture into whom the Leafs will take with the first pick, but a lot of folks think McKenna is the guy.
He may just be.
What we do know is that this is a very deep draft.
The Leafs may go with McKenna, a talented winger who lit it up in his freshman season at Penn State, or they could go elsewhere.
Hey, maybe the Leafs trade the pick and try and jumpstart this rebuild they appear to be in right now.
San Jose has the second pick, and Peng went with Chase Reid, someone he thinks could be a “true No. 1 defenseman” for the Sharks.
You can check out the rest of the mock draft here — because we’re going to skip ahead in the broadcast and go right to the Panthers at No. 9.
One can guess who made the pick for them.
As we said, it is a deep draft and a pretty strong defenseman was still on the board: Alberts Smits.
Now, we don’t know if the Panthers will have this pick.
After all, Bill Zito has traded Florida’s previous four first-round selections, and this one would have been headed to Chicago had it not held top-10 protection.
We certainly do not know if Smits will be there at nine, either.
Smits is big (6-3) and has already has professional and extensive national experience despite just turning 18 in December.
Not only does Smits have two pro seasons playing for Jokerit in the Finnish Liiga as well as in Germany, but the Latvian — hey, the Panthers dig their players from Latvia — had two assists in the Olympics, and four at the World Championship.
Smits was the youngest player at the Olympics and averaged almost 19 minutes a game.
He ended up ranked No. 2 on the NHL Central Scouting final ranking of International skaters.
So, if Florida still has the pick when No. 9 comes around and Smits is somehow still on the board, he looks like the kind of player whom the Panthers would jump at taking.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON
- NHL Draft (9th in First Round, Seven Picks Overall): June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
- NHL Free Agency: Opens July 1
- Panthers Development Camp: Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
- Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
- Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale
- 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA