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Jean-Francois Berube Expected To Be In Panthers Camp

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Given that Andrew Hammond is likely no longer attending Florida Panthers training camp on a PTO, with the veteran netminder expected to sign overseas, the team needed another goaltender. George Richards of Florida Hockey Now reports that it will be Jean-Francois Berube, who will now be in camp on a tryout basis, competing for a spot in the organization.

Berube, 31, has bounced around the league as a depth option for years now, playing for a number of organizations but rarely seeing much NHL playing time. In 2021-22 he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets, appearing six times and posting a .900 save percentage. In 19 appearances with the Cleveland Monsters of the AHL he actually fared worse, but despite middling minor league performances, Berube continues to be a trusted option for NHL clubs trying to add experience.

A PTO is about as much as he can hope for at this point, though it is important to remember that this doesn’t lock him into a deal with the Panthers. Berube can showcase himself in the preseason for the entire league and hope to land somewhere once injuries start to pile up.

For his career, Berube has appeared in 40 regular season games and owns a .898 save percentage with a 12-12-4 record.

Florida Panthers Add To Performance Department

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  • The Florida Panthers made some additions to their Performance Department today, announcing the hires of Chris McLellan, Mike Joyce, and Mark Gaydos. McLellan was named vice president of sports performance, Joyce was named head strength and conditioning coach, and Gaydos was named assistant strength and conditioning coach. The Panthers have big plans for this season, and these three hires beef up the off-ice support they’re offering to their players as they hope to achieve their lofty goals in 2022-23.

Charlotte Checkers Hire Jared Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti As Assistant Coaches

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A pair of AHL teams have announced coaching hires, including a trio of former NHLers going behind the bench. The Charlotte Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, announced the hirings of Jared Staal and Bobby Sanguinetti as assistant coaches on the staff of Head Coach Geordie Kinnear. The two newest hires also join former teammate Zac Dalpe on Kinnear’s staff. Heading up north, the Hartford Wolf Pack have hired Jamie Tardif as an assistant coach and named Casey Torres as Player Development Assistant. Hartford currently serves as the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers.

Colin White Preferred Short-Term Deal With Winning Team This Summer

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  • Panthers center Colin White told Ian Mendes of The Athletic (subscription link) that his preference this summer was to sign a one-year contract over pursuing a multi-year agreement on the open market. Some had speculated he’d follow long-time agent Kent Hughes to Montreal and while White mentioned he gave some consideration to doing so, he decided that it was more important to go to a winning team.  While White is coming off a pair of injury-plagued seasons, the 25-year-old could be an upside signing for Florida on his one-year, $1.2MM deal.

German Rubtsov Signs In KHL

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2016 Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick German Rubtsov has signed a one-year contract with Spartak Moskva in the KHL, per the team.

Rubtsov, a 24-year-old center, was taken 22nd overall in 2016 with the upside of being a high-end, two-way middle-six center. Things have never quite panned out for him at the professional level, though, as his AHL production had steadily decreased over the past few seasons. The Flyers dealt Rubtsov to the Florida Panthers as part of the Claude Giroux trade last season.

Down the stretch, Rubtsov had just one goal in six regular-season and playoff games with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. It wasn’t enough to convince the Panthers to issue him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer.

At 24, Rubtsov is nearly in his prime already. Although it is just a one-year deal, it’s extremely likely that Rubtsov’s chance at an NHL career, or even a career in North America, is completely gone. There’s always the chance that a move back home and a different system is able to help Rubtsov rediscover his game, but it would have to be a magnificent step forward for an NHL team to come calling for him next offseason.

Next season in Moscow, Rubtsov will join a Spartak team that’s made the playoffs for the past five seasons.

Breaking Down The Sean Monahan Trade Conditions

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Seeing conditional draft picks get dealt is commonplace in this day and age. However, the stipulations on them are usually easy enough to understand. Whether it’s a third-round pick dropping down to a fourth if a player doesn’t play enough games for their new team, or a second-round pick upgrading to a first if the team in question wins the Stanley Cup, the conditions on trades are sensible, at least for the majority of the time.

The Montreal Canadiens seem to buck that trend, though. Starting with some lengthy conditions on the Christian Dvorak trade prior to last season, the Canadiens have agreed to an even more complex (and frivolous, depending on who you ask) set of conditions on the 2025 conditional first-round pick that they acquired today from the Calgary Flames, along with Sean Monahan. So much so that it’s worth its own post, with reference drawn from CapFriendly’s posting and reporting on the topic.

There are three possible umbrella scenarios that could determine which draft pick Montreal actually receives:

Scenario 1: If Calgary’s 2024 first-round pick falls between 20th and 32nd overall, Montreal can elect to receive Calgary’s 2024 first instead of their 2025 first.
Scenario 2: Calgary receives the 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick sent to them by the Florida Panthers in the Jonathan Huberdeau trade.
Scenario 3: Calgary does NOT receive Florida’s 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick.

Scenario 1

This is easily the simplest and potentially most likely scenario if the Flames are still rolling strong two years from now. If Montreal opts to swap out an unknown 2025 first-rounder for a late 2024 first-rounder, then the trade tree ends and Montreal receives no additional compensation.

Scenario 2

Now, things get complex with the addition of Florida’s 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick. In the event that both the Flames’ and Panthers’ 2025 first-round picks are NOT in the top 10, the Canadiens will receive the better of the two selections.

However, if the Flames’ 2025 first-round pick is a top 10 pick and the Panthers’ pick is not, Montreal is guaranteed to receive the Panthers’ pick. If the opposite is true, Montreal will receive Calgary’s selection.

Scenario 3

This is the most unlikely yet most complex scenario. If Florida’s 2025 first-round pick ends up as a top-ten choice, they’ll retain the pick and send their 2026 first-rounder to Calgary instead. This has two possible implications for Montreal:

If Calgary’s 2025 first is NOT top 10: Montreal will receive Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick, and, if Florida’s 2025 first-round pick is not top ten, but was transferred to another team due to prior conditions AND is a better pick than Calgary’s, Montreal will also receive Calgary’s 2025 fourth-round pick as compensation.

If Calgary’s 2025 first is top 10: If Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick is first overall, Montreal will receive the better of Florida’s and Calgary’s 2026 first-round picks AND Calgary’s 2025 third-round pick. If Calgary’s 2025 first-round pick falls between selections 2 through 10, Montreal will receive the pick.

All in all, if the reported conditions are correct, the Canadiens have the potential to receive one of the following five outcomes:

2024 Calgary first-round pick
2025 Calgary first-round pick + potential 2025 Calgary fourth-round pick
2025 Florida first-round pick
2026 Calgary first-round pick + 2025 Calgary third-round pick
2026 Florida first-round pick + 2025 Calgary third-round pick

Nathan Staios Excited For Development Process With Panthers

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  • One of the newest members of the Florida Panthers organization, defenseman Nathan Staios told NHL.com’s Alain Poupart that he’s going to do his best to try to make the Panthers out of training camp, but understands the likely trajectory of his development. “Wherever they want me, I’m good,” Staios said. “I’m gonna work my hardest to make the big team, but a couple years of development in the AHL, I’m totally good with that. And I’m really looking forward to that as well,” Staios added. Trusting the process with his development will be necessary for the Ontario native, just as it is any prospect, but after a slow yet steady rise in his value as a prospect, his eagerness to continue this way will be an essential part of the 21-year-old’s success. Having been undrafted by an NHL team, Staios continued to work on his game in the OHL, breaking out after a trade from the Windsor Spitfires to the Hamilton Bulldogs prior to the 2019-20 season. This season, though, vaulted Staios to legitimate prospect status, as he tallied 15 goals and 51 assists in 59 games from the blueline for a talented Hamilton squad.

Andrew Hammond, Josh Brook, Cole Schneider Sign Professional Tryouts

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Three more players have settled this offseason, as Andrew Hammond, Josh Brook, and Cole Schneider have agreed to professional tryouts according to CapFriendly. Hammond will be attending training camp with the Florida Panthers, Brook with the Calgary Flames, and Schneider with the Nashville Predators.

As the summer continues, more and more players will be taking tryout offers, as they try to land NHL contracts that have at least call-up eligibility. For a goaltender like Hammond, an NHL at some point seems likely since he saw 11 games this season and has a history at the level. In four games for the Montreal Canadiens, he registered a .920 save percentage, though that was dragged down considerably by the .860 he put up in seven appearances for the New Jersey Devils.

For his career, he actually holds a .916, thanks to that incredible run with the Ottawa Senators in 2014-15, when he posted a 20-1-2 record and .941 save percentage to carry the team into the playoffs.

Brook meanwhile is the only one of the three without any NHL experience, though he is just 23 years old and was a second-round pick of the Canadiens in 2017. Last season he split just 12 games between the AHL and ECHL, making it difficult to see how he’ll land an NHL deal even with a strong camp. That doesn’t mean it’s out of the question down the road but for this year, a minor league deal still seems more likely.

Schneider, who last saw NHL action during the 2016-17 season, is an excellent minor league player and has been for a long time. In 71 games with the Milwaukee Admirals last season he scored 30 goals and 60 points but hasn’t been on an NHL contract since 2019. Perhaps he’ll be able to negotiate one, though a call-up for the Predators seems unlikely at this point in his career.

Florida Panthers Announce Coaching Staff

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After adding Paul Maurice as the team’s new head coach earlier this summer, the Florida Panthers have rounded out their staff. Myles Fee, Jamie Kompon, and Sylvain Lefebvre will serve as assistants, joining Tuomo Ruutu and goaltending coach Robb Tallas on Maurice’s staff. The team also announced that Geordie Kinnear will continue as head coach of the Charlotte Checkers.

Kompon’s addition was reported last month, as the veteran coach follows Maurice from Winnipeg to Florida. The long-time NHL coach has served in various roles with the St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Winnipeg Jets, while also at one point sitting as the general manager and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.

Fee, meanwhile, has been a video coach with the Buffalo Sabres for the past two years, and previously served with the Checkers, New York Rangers, and Edmonton Oilers. He also happened to be the video coach for Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup, a group that had Maurice as an assistant under Ralph Krueger.

Lefebvre may actually be the most recognizable to hockey fans, given his long playing career that lasted nearly 1,000 games. He has been with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL for the last three seasons, and previously worked in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche.

Mackie Samoskevich Unsure When He'll Turn Pro

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Some college prospects have a plan for when they want to turn pro.  First-round picks, in particular, are often staying for just a year or two before making the jump.  That was the case for several of Michigan’s players last season with one of the exceptions being Panthers prospect Mackie Samoskevich.  The 19-year-old told NHL.com’s Alain Poupart that he doesn’t have a set time in mind for turning pro.  He had 29 points in 40 games for the Wolverines in his freshman year and with several prominent players from 2021-22 making the jump to the pros already, Samoskevich will be in line for a bigger role next season.  How he performs with that opportunity will go a long way towards helping Florida determine if they want him turning pro after that.

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