Two under-the-radar Panthers players showing their value. Plus an upcoming Bobrovsky milestone

What a difference a year has made for Uvis Balinskis.

Last season, he was an under-the-radar Latvian defenseman the Florida Panthers signed out of Czech league. He impressed enough to land on the opening day roster and play in 26 regular-season games as a fill-in while Florida got healthy on the blue line.

This year, he’s already establishing himself as a mainstay and a player who will fill whatever role needed.

He has established himself as a third-pair defenseman and as a member of Florida’s power-play unit.

But during the past week and a half, he showcased his willingness to change his role at 5-on-5 while the team dealt with injury.

With both Aleksander Barkov (lower-body injury) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness) sidelined for five games, Balinskis moved to forward and played on the right wing of the Panthers’ fourth line.

“It’s a little different,” Balinskis said, “but I’m having fun, so it’s interesting.”

Balinskis, 28, said the last time he played forward before this season was when he was 14 years old.

How did the move unfold?

“[Panthers coach Paul Maurice] said he needed a guy for the offense,” Balinskis said, “and I’m not going to say no if he needs it.”

The forward experiment might be coming to an end. Tkachuk is scheduled to return to the lineup Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild to close their three-game homestand. Barkov is slated to be close behind him. So, too, is Tomas Nosek, who was projected to center Florida’s fourth line before sustaining an upper-body injury early in training camp.

Either way, Balinskis has shown he can be an integral part of this team moving forward.

“He just plays so hard,” Maurice said. “That will fit you in our room. That will make you part of the group.”

Is Eetu Luostarinen’s value for Panthers underrated

When the Panthers were given their Stanley Cup championship rings before the season, team owner Vincent Viola made a bold assertion.

“If Eetu Luostarinen didn’t get hurt, we beat the Vegas [Golden] Knights” in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, Viola said. “You can go to sleep on that. You’re a critical part of our team.”

Luostarinen isn’t a household name on a Panthers team but Viola is accurate on the 26-year-old forward’s value to the team.

He has steadily grown into one of Florida’s more reliable players year of year after being acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 24, 2020, as part of the Vincent Trocheck trade.

He’s the type of player whose production doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet but is integral in a team’s success. He’s a lead forward on Florida’s penalty kill, which was one of the best in the NHL last year and is off to a strong start again this season, and forms a quality one-two punch as part of Florida’ game-changing third line with Anton Lundell when the team is at full strength.

Defense is his calling card — he has 374 hits, 167 takeaways against 116 giveaways and 184 blocked shots in his career — but his offense has been on the upswing. He already has three goals through seven games this season.

But Maurice doesn’t want Luostarinen’s priority to be on offense — not if it takes away from what he does so well defensively.

“I don’t know the answer to that, and I don’t really want to,” Maurice said when asked about Luostarinen’s ceiling offensively. “I don’t want to ever go, ‘Hey, we can turn this guy into a 30-goal guy’ because we just value what he does. His drive, that’s his greatness, and his ability to be on the puck, but he has hands and he can score. I believe that. He can produce numbers. But again, that will be tied to Anton Lundell, and what he can do in the middle is fantastic. ... I wouldn’t put a ceiling on that. I’m also not searching for it.”

But Luostarinen is still searching ways to elevate his game. He has done so much to improve since joining the Panthers but knows there’s still more to gain.

“I’ve grown a lot,” Luostarinen said. “Back in my first year here, everything was new and different. I’ve been growing as a hockey player, but also as a human being and just outside the rink too. I’m not the youngest, but not oldest either. There’s still room to grow up and be better.”

Bobrovsky approaching latest milestone

Sergei Bobrovsky’s next win will be a big one.

Bobrovsky is one victory away from the 400th in his NHL career, which would make him just the 14th ever in NHL history to hit that milestone.

Bobrovsky, in his 15th NHL season and sixth with the Panthers, is 3-1-1 with a .896 save percentage and 2.95 goals against average through five starts this season.

The road ahead

After they wrap up their homestand Tuesday against Minnesota, the Panthers will start a five-game road trip that includes three games in New York — against the Rangers on Thursday, Islanders on Saturday and Buffalo Sabres on Monday — before going to Tampere, Finland for a pair of games against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 1 and 2 as part of the NHL Global Series.