Five Florida Panthers questions that need to be answered during training camp

Training camp is underway as the Florida Panthers attempt to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

But a lot remains up in the air for Florida that must be answered between now and when the Panthers open the season on Oct. 8 against the Boston Bruins at Amerant Bank Arena.

Here are five questions the team must answer over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

Who rounds out the top nine forwards?

The Panthers return eight players from last season’s team who filled out Paul Maurice’s top three forward lines.

That group: Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen.

Based on the early going of training camp, Maurice will most likely keep his top two lines from last season together, with Barkov centering Verhaeghe and Reinhart and Bennett centering Rodrigues and Tkachuk. That leaves Lundell and Luostarinen, a duo who has worked well together over the past two years, along with a to-be-determined right winger on Florida’s third line.

Who might that player be?

It seemed early on that Mackie Samoskevich will get the first crack at it. The 21-year-old forward and 2021 first-round pick played in seven games with the Panthers last season but spent the rest of the season with the Charlotte Checkers, the Panthers’ American Hockey League affiliate, where he logged 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists) in 62 games.

However, Samoskevich entered camp with what Maurice called a “minor upper body injury” and is not expected to skate with the team until Tuesday.

If not Samoskevich, Justin Sourdif and Jesper Boqvist both could also be options on the third line.

Sourdif, like Samoskevich, made his NHL debut last season but spent the majority of the season with AHL Charlotte.

Boqvist signed a one-year, $775,000 deal with Florida this offseason. He has played 236 career NHL games through four seasons, logging 34 goals and 35 assists.

How will fourth line shake out?

While the top of Florida’s forward core remains steady, the Panthers will need to rework their fourth line after almost all of its contributors from that group departed this offseason.

Ryan Lomberg signed with the Calgary Flames. Kevin Stenlund signed with the Utah Hockey Club. Nick Cousins signed with the Ottawa Senators. Steven Lorentz is with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a professional tryout. And Kyle Okposo on Thursday announced his retirement after 17 NHL seasons.

Florida’s lone fourth-line forward still on the roster is Jonah Gadjovich, who played in 39 regular-season games but didn’t get into any playoff games during the Stanley Cup run. He signed a two-year extension with the Panthers in March.

Beyond Gadjovich, Florida has new signees Boqvist, Tomas Nosek and AJ Greer as options to round out its fourth line.

Who will be Florida’s backup goaltender?

The Panthers had a stellar one-two goaltender tandem last season in Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz. Bobrovsky was a Veniza Trophy finalist while Stolarz had the highest save percentage in the NHL (.925) among goaltenders with at least 25 appearances. Stolarz signed with Toronto this offseason, leaving the backup spot behind Bobrovsky open.

The open competition should come down to Spencer Knight and Chris Driedger.

Knight, the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2019 who is on the second year of a three-year, $13.5 million deal, spent all of last season in AHL Charlotte in order to get steady playing time after entering the NHL and NHL Players Association’s joint player assistance program in February 2023 for what he later revealed to be due to an ongoing case with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Driedger signed a one-year, $795,000 deal this offseason to rejoin the Panthers. He was with the team for two season (2019-20 and 2020-21) before being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the NHL expansion draft.

How will the defense pairings shake out?

The Panthers lost two key defensemen to free agency in Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who respectively signed with Seattle and Toronto.

That means a shakeup in the team’s defense pairings are on the horizon.

The top pairing of Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad should remain intact.

Beyond that, Maurice needs to figure out who will hold down the final four spots.

Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov should be locks for two of them. So, too, should Nate Schmidt.

The last spot? That will likely go to one of Adam Boqvist, Uvis Balinskis or Tobias Bjornfot, with one of the two that doesn’t get the spot likely sticking around on the roster as an extra.

Who runs Florida’s power play units?

The departure of Ekman-Larsson and Montour goes beyond the defense pairings at five-on-five.

The two were the defensemen who ran Florida’s power play units when the team was at full strength.

With them gone, who steps in?

Forsling can do it, but considering his value at five-on-five and on the penalty kill, would the Panthers want to preserve his minutes?

Adam Boqvist and Schmidt would also be options, and it can’t be ruled out that Ekblad gets another crack at power-play time.