Welcome to Scott Wheeler’s 2024 rankings of every NHL organization’s prospects. You can find the complete ranking and more information on the criteria here, as we count down daily from No. 32 to No. 1. The series, which includes in-depth evaluations and insight from sources on nearly 500 prospects, runs from Jan. 30 to Feb. 29.
Though the Florida Panthers didn’t pick in the first or third rounds of last year’s draft, and only one of the five players they did pick made their list, their pool actually rises in this year’s rankings after an uncommon scenario played out — the rare reintroduction of a prospect previously deemed graduated in Spencer Knight.
The Panthers’ pool is closer to league average than this ranking indicates, as this is the start of a new tier in the countdown where we begin to move from the league’s poorer pools into a group of fine but unspectacular ones. The Panthers’ pool actually has a number of prospects I’ve been fonder than most of over the years. It does lack the high-end talent of the league’s better pools, though.
2023 prospect pool rank: No. 26 (change: +2)
1. Spencer Knight, G, 22 (Charlotte Checkers)
Knight’s game checks a lot of the prototypical goalie boxes. He was known at a young age for his composure and calm in the net, which remains a goalie’s most coveted asset but usually comes with maturity and age and can be hard to find in teenage goalies. But he’s also big, agile, athletic and technically and positionally sound. And even when I’ve seen him struggle in games over the years, it’s usually not because he’s flustered and lets things get away from him. He’s also a good puckhandler. He’s working to put it all together again, but he still deserves a reputation as a reliable and consistent goalie. His profile has most of what goalie scouts/experts want a goalie to have and I expect him to get back to the NHL as a solid goalie. By goalie standards, he’s still very young even though he has been on the radar/through a lot in his young career already.
2. Mackie Samoskevich, RW, 21 (Charlotte Checkers)
After a good but not great performance at the summer world juniors (he was owed more than his three assists in five games), Samoskevich took a step forward as a sophomore with the Wolverines last season, finishing the year with 43 points in 39 games to finish second on the team in goals and third in points, earning his entry-level contract in the process. This year, I’ve been impressed by his play as a rookie in the AHL in both a live viewing and additional viewings on tape, as well.
Samoskevich is a gifted, plus-level skating winger whose hands, speed (though I think his skating isn’t quite as strong as I gave it credit for in his draft year) and edges (in particular) help him attack on angles and put defenders on their heels.
There’s an intuition to his game that allows him to see plays through layers, hang onto pucks and finesse pucks in and out of space with a dash or a pass. I like the way he moves inside the offensive zone and the high tempo he plays with. And while he’s not a big player, he’s an athletic one whose decent strength through the base of his stride allows him to keep sequences alive — and who has upped his competitiveness in the last couple of years. He has also progressively learned to more consistently attack underneath to the inside. He plays with jump, he’s hard to get a handle on with the way he cuts back against the grain on his outside edges, he can make plays off of his backhand as deftly as his forehand, and while I think there are times when he tries to do too much and overhandles the puck, I’m a fan on the whole. He projects as a middle-six, PP2 winger.
3. Justin Sourdif, RW, 21 (Charlotte Checkers)
I’ve been a huge fan of Sourdif’s since his rookie season in the WHL and though his rookie season in the AHL had some ups and downs after a really strong development camp and training camp, he has…
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