Florida Panthers submit qualifying offers to six players

Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito announced qualifying offers for up and coming prospects

Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito has made a few moves immediately after his first draft. He submitted qualifying offers for six players. They include Henrik Borgstrom, Emil Djuse, Mason Marchment, Sam Montembeault, Alexi Saarela, and MacKenzie Weegar.

Borgstrom was the first offer made. He was a highly touted prospect back when the Panthers made him their first round pick back in 2016. The 23 year old from Finland played two season in NCAA hockey for the University of Denver.

He has since bounced from the AHL to the NHL and back to AHL. He made his debut during a four game stint in the 2017-18 season, scoring a goal. He has since played 58 total NHL games scoring 9 goals and 10 assists for a total of 19 points.

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Djuse, a defenseman, was acquired in a trade with the Dallas Start this past February. He just completed his first North American professional season in 2019-20. He spent the whole year in the AHL playing for the Texas Starts and Springfield Thunderbirds. He played in 53 games recording 32 points. He is a native of Sweden and currently playing in the KHL for Spartak Moskva.

Marchment, a forward, was also acquired last February, this time in a trade with Toronto. The team gave up depth forward Denis Mallon for him. He is currently 25, last playing in Springfield in the AHL. Last season, he also played in 4 NHL games, recording a lone assist. He recorded 20 points in the AHL through 30 games last year as well. He is a native a Canada.

Montembeault is a goaltender that has played a bit at the NHL level. He played only 11 games in the AHL last season, recording a .918 save percentage. He was originally a third round pick of the Panthers back in 2015.

Saarela is another forward that was given an offer. He was acquired from Chicago and he played really well last season in the AHL for Springfield. He dressed up in 43 games, recording 31 points. He has recently signed in Finland. He is currently playing for Lukko of Liiga in loan. He also played for the Lukko U16, U18, and U20 teams at the beginning of last decade.

Weegar is the most important qualifying offer given out. He has since become a staple of the Panthers defensive core. While he has yet to play a full season, he is still important player. Bill Zito has to address the defense this offseason and he took his first step with this move. Weegar is extremely physical and can shot-block at an enormous rate. I love this offer the most out of all of them.