George Richards, FHN Publisher
Giving a line a nickname is one of hockey’s great traditions. For the Florida Panthers, it is a little premature to give their new top line any sort of monicker.
After all, the season will not even start until Sunday night when the Chicago Blackhawks visit BB&T Center.
Secondly, we do not even know if the line we have been seeing in practice and in scrimmages will be Florida’s top trio.
Here is what we know: For the past few days, the Panthers have been running a revamped top six.
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With Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman gone, we knew the Panthers had some work to do within their top six.
Who would go where and with whom?
Right now, Florida’s top line consists of center Sasha Barkov with newcomers Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair on his wings.
Alexander Wennberg centers Jonathan Huberdeau and Patric Hornqvist on the second.
Will it stay this way? Perhaps. These two line combinations offer a lot of promise.
And for Verhaeghe and Duclair, the chance to play big minutes with the likes of Barkov is exactly why both chose to sign as free agents with the Panthers.
You wanted opportunity, eh? Here you go.
“I had a lot of conversations with Bill Zito during the offseason and at the end of the day, I just felt this was the best fit for me,” said Duclair, who got a one-year deal with the Panthers for $1.7 million.
“Look at the lineup, who is coming up prospect-wise and our forward group was presented to me and it was the best decision for me.”
The two players who are joining Barkov on the top line come from different situations yet are both looking for the same thing.
In Ottawa, Duclair had the opportunity to become a featured player and took advantage, scoring 23 goals last season and earning his first All-Star invitation.
Yet with the rebuilding Senators, he did not have the high-end players (such as Barkov and Huberdeau for example) around him to help get him to the next level.
When he became a free agent after Ottawa did not make him a qualifying offer, Duclair says he took his time looking around the league for the best fit for himself.
“To be honest, I think we’re a pretty deceiving team from the outside looking in,’’ Duclair said. “There is a lot of talent on this team, another level we can reach. We want to be a competitive team right off the bat.”
Seeing a chance to play with the likes of Barkov and Huberdeau (those three were Florida’s initial top line when camp opened and remain together on the top power play unit) made Florida a very attractive option.
“This is obviously a great opportunity for myself especially playing with those guys,” Duclair said.
“They are pretty special players, superstars and it’s a great opportunity that I am not taking for granted. This is a talented group of forwards so I am coming in here every day trying to be the best I can be.”
In the case of Verhaeghe, he is coming from a team with too much talent.
A former 30-goal scorer at the AHL level, Verhaeghe found himself blocked by the extremely deep forward depth of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Last season was his NHL breakout as he made his debut with the Lightning and played in 52 regular season games, scoring nine goals with 13 points in mostly fourth-line minutes.
Verhaeghe will certainly log more prime-time minutes with the Panthers. He will also get power play opportunity and is currently running with the second unit although that could change based on injury and/or production.
“I think this year, compared to last year, I feel a little more confident,” said Verhaeghe, 25, who signed a two-year deal with the Panthers for $1 million per season not long after he lifted the Stanley Cup.
“I had not played in the NHL before and now, coming into camp off a Stanley Cup win, that gives you a lot of confidence. I’m just trying to compete for a job and I am trying to work my hardest here. … I want to show them what I can do on the ice, leave it all out there and then it is in their hands.”
If things work out the way the Panthers hope, both players could be here for a little while. Although Duclair only has a one-year contract, the Panthers holding his future rights as he continues to be a restricted free agent after this season.
Verhaeghe will also remain RFA following the conclusion of this contract.
“Carter is a guy with Stanley Cup pedigree who can play up and down the lineup with some upside,” GM Bill Zito said.
“Our scouts targeted that, spent a lot of hours looking for younger talent who have upside, who might be buried, may be behind opportunity on the clubs they were on. We’re real excited to see what he can do and give him the opportunity to grow here.”
A few years ago, Florida signed another winger who was landlocked in Tampa Bay to a two-year deal and watched Jonathan Marchessault lead the Panthers with 30 goals in 2016-17.
The season before getting 30 with the Panthers, Marchessault scored seven in 45 games with the Lightning.
Florida would certainly love to see that kind of production come from its latest low-risk, high-reward signing from the Lightning.
The Panthers certainly thought Verhaeghe’s biggest moments — at least individually and they hope collectively — are still in front of him.
“I think getting that opportunity to be around those top guys in Tampa helped developed a lot of good habits,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
“He has a lot more skill than you might think, and that’s where the opportunity is going to grow.
“I really like him a lot as far as what he brings to our team. He brings tenacity and a real competitiveness. … He has added a little bit of winning pedigree as well.’’