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New Florida Panthers Lines Following Vladimir Tarasenko Trade

Originally posted on Florida Hockey Now
By George Richards, FHN Publisher | Last updated Mar 6, 2024 3:28 PM ET

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice now has a number of different options when it comes to his forwards after Wednesday’s trade for Vladimir Tarasenko.

Tarasenko, 32, is a former 40-goal scorer who will give the Panthers plenty of different looks moving forward.

Although Tarasenko is a left-handed shot, he has said repeatedly that he has only played on the right side.

That would appear to limit what Maurice can do.

Bill Zito, Panthers Not Done after Tarasenko Trade

When the Panthers play host to the Flyers on Thursday, it is expected that Maurice will have Tarasenko of the right side of his third line with Anton Lundell at center.

This will give Tarasenko a little time to adjust to Florida’s style and its systems following the trade.

According to the Panthers’ media page, Tarasenko will wear No. 10 which was last worn by Anthony Duclair.

Eetu Luostarinen probably remains on the left.

Either Nick Cousins or Evan Rodrigues would move to the fourth line.

As for options with Tarasenko, he may move up to the first or second line in the near future.

Although Florida already has two top players on the right side in Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk, both have played on the left side before.

Going into Thursday, the bet is that Cousins stays right where he is for the time being after scoring twice in Florida’s 5-3 win over New Jersey.

Here is how the Panthers’ lines could look with Tarasenko in Thursday following the trade:

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (43-16-4) LINES

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

21 Nick Cousins // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 10 Vladimir Tarasenko

94 Ryan Lomberg // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 17 Evan Rodrigues

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 62 Brandon Montour

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson// 7 Dmitry Kulikov

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Josh Mahura, Steven Lorentz, Jonah Gadjovich

Injured: None

Waived Wednesday: Will Lockwood

BOLD indicates changes from Tuesday: Lomberg played on the right side of the fourth line, Rodrigues on the third. Gadjovich played on RW on the fourth.

This article first appeared on Florida Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission.

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