The Florida Panthers’ center depth is getting the kind of attention that usually comes with a team built to bully opponents into mistakes. At the top of that stack sit Sasha Barkov and Sam Bennett, a duo that gives Florida one of the NHL’s most dangerous 1-2 punches down the middle.
The Athletic’s Harman Dayal recently broke down center play across the league, using statistics and film to rank every team by its top two faceoff men. Florida landed near the top of the list, and it’s easy to see why. Barkov is widely viewed as the best two-way player in the world, while Bennett brings the kind of gritty, clutch edge that makes life miserable for opponents.
That combination fits the Panthers’ style perfectly. Florida plays an aggressive, physical defensive system that asks a lot from its centers, and Barkov and Bennett both thrive in that environment. They don’t just hold the line - they push play, win battles, and keep the pressure on at both ends of the ice.
Dayal ranked only two teams ahead of Florida in that category: the Edmonton Oilers with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and the Colorado Avalanche with Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson.
Florida was placed ahead of a group that included the New Jersey Devils with Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, the San Jose Sharks with Macklin Celebrini and Michael Misa, the Toronto Maple Leafs with Auston Matthews and John Tavares, the Vegas Golden Knights with Jack Eichel and William Karlsson, the Dallas Stars with Wyatt Johnston and Roope Hintz, and the Carolina Hurricanes with Sebastian Aho and Logan Stankoven.
If the ranking had been based on overall center depth instead of just the top two, Florida might have been sitting at No. 1. Anton Lundell adds another high-end option, one who would fit as a second-line center on plenty of teams, and new fourth-line center Lars Eller gives the Panthers even more size and physicality to throw over the boards.
That’s the real story here: Florida can keep coming at teams in waves, and the center group is a huge reason why. Barkov and Bennett set the tone, and the rest of the depth only makes the job harder for whoever lines up across from them.
In Other News...
Panthers Prospects Are Suddenly In The Spotlight This Weekend
The World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario, wraps up this weekend with Finland meeting Sweden and the United States taking on Canada, a pair of games that will keep plenty of NHL front offices tuned in. For the Panthers, the event has put a couple of prospect names in the spotlight at just the right time, as teams use one last look in a meaningful setting before the calendar turns toward training camp and a busier stretch of roster decisions around the league.
Vilho Vanhatalo is slated to suit up for Finland against Sweden after collecting one goal and one assist in four games, while Shea Busch could get another crack at Canada after appearing in Thursdays 5-3 win over Finland. Those performances matter because this is the sort of week when a young player can shift from simply being part of the pipeline to being someone the organization starts tracking a little more closely, even as the bigger international story around the tournament continues to grow. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Just Closed The Book On A Trusted Cup Run Piece
Tomas Noseks time in South Florida covered two seasons, but it came with a meaningful imprint on a Panthers group that finished the job in the Stanley Cup Final. Across an 11-season NHL career and 514 regular-season games with multiple teams, he settled into the kind of reliable depth role contenders lean on, the sort of player who can disappear in the best possible way until the biggest moments arrive.
Now his next step takes him away from the NHL picture, with his offseason move pointing him back to familiar territory overseas for the upcoming season. For the Panthers, its another reminder of how much turnover follows a championship run, even for players whose names may not always dominate the headlines but whose presence matters when the stakes are highest. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Have An Edge If The Atlantic Gets Drained Again
With the Atlantic Division again looking like a grind, the conversation around how teams handle a compressed schedule is starting to feel familiar. One of the bigger questions is whether roster shape mattered as much as raw talent last season, especially for clubs that leaned heavily on veteran stars and sent a large chunk of their top players into Olympic play.
Buffalo and Montreal are held up as examples of younger, more evenly spread-out lineups that may have been better positioned to absorb the wear and tear, while Florida and the other Atlantic teams are part of the broader comparison because of how many players they sent. The underlying issue is less about one tournament than about what happens when a long season gets squeezed, and whether teams built around older core pieces can keep pace if the schedule gets tight again. [Read more 🡒]