Florida Panthers: NHL Draft Preview
At the NHL Entry Draft on June 25, the Florida Panthers have the third overall pick.
Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin will have already been selected, by the time they use their first round selection, and the Panthers get to decide on who is the best from the second tier.
On the blue line, the Panthers are thin and new GM Dave Tallon will likely be deciding between two defensemen: Erik Gudbranson and Cam Fowler. Fowler will be coming out of Windsor of the NHL and he is exceptional at moving the puck forward
Gudbranson is more defensive minded and is bigger of the two.
The top three of the draft was predicted to be Hall, Seguin, and Fowler, for months. To be the more likely selection for Florida, recently Gudbranson has jumped ahead. Many experts such as Gare Joyce of ESPN.com believe Gudbranson compliments current Panther defenseman Dmitry Kulikov better than Fowler does.
For an established NHL defenseman, there is also a good possibility Florida could trade the third overall pick. The draft likely is to trade down with either the New York Islanders or Atlanta for one of their young established prospects, if they do end up dealing away this draft pick.
In the second round, Florida has three picks. On either another defenseman or a scoring winger, they will have their sights set. They will likely use at least one of those picks in a packaged deal to get a player with NHL experience from one of the other teams.