George Richards, FHN Publisher
Over the past three seasons, Owen Tippett has come to Florida Panthers training camp looking to make the team.
As a fresh-faced, 18-year-old who was just drafted tenth overall by the Panthers in 2017, he did just that.
His NHL season lasted seven games and he was sent back to his junior league team so not to burn a year of his entry-level deal.
In 2018, he did not get much of a look in camp and was quickly sent to his junior team.
Last year, Tippett was out of junior options and was one of the Panthers’ final cuts of camp. The Panthers felt Tippett’s game needed some maturity, something they thought he would find with their AHL team in Springfield.
Well, here we are for Tippett’s fourth go-round at Florida’s training camp.
He isn’t going anywhere, not this time.
“Obviously the last couple years I’ve wanted to be here, and it just hasn’t worked out,” Tippett said earlier this week.
“There’s obviously something to prove here. Being an older guy and having the first (professional) year under my belt, it’s definitely helped.”
Tippett is in the midst of a strong camp with the Panthers, one he punctuated Thursday night with a pair of goals against Chris Driedger in the team’s first scrimmage of the season.
Playing with center Eetu Luostarinen and winger Carter Verhaeghe, Tippett had two real nice chances in the second period for Team Red in what turned into a 8-1 victory over their white-clad teammates.
Tippett, Verhaeghe and Luostarinen combined for five goals in the scrimmage.
For Tippett, knowing he continues to impress the Panthers with less than a week before the season opener next Thursday against the Dallas Stars is validation for the times he has been here before.
Playing competitively again after missing the second half of last season due to a wrist injury also has Tippett feeling confident.
“It felt good,” Tippett said Monday.
“It has been a long time coming, especially last year coming right off an injury into the pandemic. It’s been a while since I’ve been into action like this. Obviously there have been some big steps coming into training camp. I felt good.”
Tippett is not a veteran on this team, but is a player the Panthers have been priming to help them for a while.
Although he didn’t stick long-term with the Panthers after his previous three training camps, the rationale was Florida did not want to rush him to the big stage and alter his growth.
The Panthers planned to keep him in Springfield throughout the 2019-20 season but his strong play with the Thunderbirds — and Florida’s February struggles — had them rethinking that.
The wrist injury kept him from coming up. He rejoined the Panthers for the summer camp but did not see any game action in Toronto. The weeks with the Panthers and getting that extra work did seem to be beneficial, however.
Coach Joel Quenneville, for one, seems to be impressed with Tippett’s size, speed and shot.
Oh, and he knows Tippett can score. He always has.
Tippett had 44 goals at junior before the Panthers drafted him, then he scored 33 in the next one.
Despite being hurt before the AHL All-Star break last January, Tippett’s 19 goals still lead the Springfield team for the entire season.
“Tippett has all the makings to being a real power forward in the league, a top-scorer season-in and season-out,” Quenneville said.
“Putting it all together, getting that consistency, is something I think he is improving at. When you’re not scoring, you have to do the little things right … be defensively sound and predictable. He does have a great knack of knowing where the open spaces are.
“He can get a shot off at the highest level as the top scorers in our game. It’s just a matter of putting it all together. He has the makings of being a real good NHL player.”