Analyzing the Panthers New Forward Group

Intro

After the signing of Evan Rodrigues, unless something crazy happens, the Panthers seemingly have the forwards that they plan to start the season with. The Panthers brought in Steven Lorentz in a trade that sent Anthony Duclair to the Shark and signed Kevin Stenlund in addition to Rodrigues. They also resigned 2018 first round pick Grigori Denisenko to a one-way deal. So the group was not totally overhauled but there are definitely some note worthy changes. 

Projected Lineup

Verhaeghe - Barkov - Reinhart
Rodrigues - Bennett - Tkachuk
Luostarinen - Lundell - Lorentz
Cousins - Stenlund - Lomberg
Denisenko

Analysis

With more available cap space this offseason the Panthers were able to build a much stronger forward group from top to bottom. Last seasons cap restraints made Paul Maurice really have to get creative to create three competitive lines, especially while Duclair was out. Without Duclair the Panthers only really had five forwards capable of playing in the top six, even when Duclair came back he was coming off such a bad injury that he really wasn't giving you top six caliber play. What the Panthers have now is, no doubt, six top six caliber forwards with Verhaeghe, Barkov, Reinhart, Rodrigues, Bennett, and Tkachuk. That is not only a capable top six, but it is up there amongst the best in the NHL. Last season Luostarinen played mostly in the top six, and played pretty well actually. The Panthers now have the luxury of him not being forced into that role but also know they can use him there if an injury occurs or if they want to play Reinhart with Lundell, which has worked well in the past. Cousins was a mainstay on the Tkachuk line during the playoff run allowing the Panthers to balance their top three lines. They don't have to do that now, Cousins can play in a bottom six role where he thrives and, like Luostarinen, they have the option to move him up if something happens. The Panthers bottom six struggled throughout last season, they just did not have the personnel to run two good bottom six lines. The third line, without Reinhart, could never really find any consistent offense and the fourth line was borderline unplayable for large parts of the season, especially in the playoffs. The third player will probably rotate throughout the season, but with Stenlund and Lomberg as mainstays on the fourth line the Panthers should be able to rely on that line much more than they did last season. Denisenko, I assume will start the season as the Panthers extra forward, it will be interesting to see how he fits in. We haven't seen much of him at the NHL level, and his AHL results have yet to jump off the page too. I was surprised to see the contract, but hopefully the team sees some potential there. He has battled injuries for a few years, which hurt his development, but Bill Zito suggested that he saw something from Denisenko last season that was the start of him getting back to being what was once a very promising player.