Panthers make SNEAKY Good Move... This is Big

The Florida Panthers have once again made another sneaky move heading into training camp, which does begin tomorrow. I'll have more details on that. You're gonna love who they brought in. I can't wait to talk about this guy. Under the radar move. It's a PTO move. I like it. Let me know in the comments down below what you guys think. This is Panthers Digest, guys. Welcome back. I'm your host, Greg Andrews. Comment, like, share, subscribe. Hype up the video. Appreciate everybody tuning in. Those of you who are tuning in and not subscribed, there's about 68% of you. Hit the subscribe button. It takes two seconds to do it. I appreciate you guys all tuning in, supporting me, supporting the channel and the Florida Panthers. So, Bill Zito has finalized his training camp roster. I'm gonna show you who is on it. It's really hard to read it, but you guys can go online and you can find the roster of who will be in training camp. Obviously, a lot of familiar names, some new ones. I'm gonna talk about one player in particular who I really like that I didn't realize was on that roster until I really started nitpicking about, oh, wow, I recognize that name. Oh, he wasn't on the, you know, our AHL roster last year or anything. There's a big forward and I do mean that literally. He's a big guy at 6'4". He's had some time in the league, played for the Devils a lot, a little bit of time with the Kraken and this past season with the Dallas Stars. I'm not gonna tell you who it is yet, but I do want to show you the training camp rosters right now. So, I'm gonna show you the forward lines. Obviously, very hard to see them, but just to give you an idea, there are 30 forwards. This is the forward list. 30 forwards, 16 defensemen and five goaltenders that will be attending camp. Now, I do want to let you know, again, practices do start tomorrow, Thursday. There are two of them, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., but they are closed to the public. That means, I believe, credentialed individuals will be able to get in, but other than that, sorry, guys, you're not gonna be able to get in, but Friday and Saturday's practices are open to the public and don't forget, Panthers Fan Fest is on Saturday. All of these things are happening at the Panthers Iceplex in Fort Lauderdale, not the Ice Den in Coral Springs, ladies and gentlemen, the Iceplex in Fort Lauderdale, okay? So, make sure you get it right if you are in the area and you do want to see them practice. Get out there. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I wish I could go. I'll be doing other things. I'll be directing as well as doing play-by-play for some other events. Anyways, these are the defensemen and goaltenders that will be attending training camp and don't forget, our first preseason game will be Sunday at 7 p.m. at home against the Carolina Hurricanes. Yes, lots of games against them right to start off the season. I know the first ones do not count, but it's gonna be interesting to see who's gonna be on what lines. Obviously, we'll see a little bit of play possibly from our day one roster guys, but I'm sure we're gonna try to limit that because we don't want to start off. I'm not even gonna say it. Everybody knows what I'm thinking. I'm not gonna say it. I'm not gonna do that. Knock on wood. So, anyways, big names here. One of the things I am gonna talk about in the future is who is actually gonna be our third goaltender. Who's gonna be the next man up if something happens to Akira Schmid or Jacob Markstrom. So, that's a conversation for another day because there are three very good goaltenders. One who I do think is ready. One who I think still needs a little time because he's young, only 22 years old, but we'll talk about that another day. So, anyways, that's all for what is going on with the rosters. Now, to talk about the man who I think has been a very good pickup, a bottom six forward. Could this be a guy who could potentially take Marshan's spot when he's out of the lineup rehabbing from surgery this summer? His name is Nathan Bastian. You may or may not know him. He's not had the biggest, most flashy career, but he has helped out teams when called upon. Drafted in 2016 by the New Jersey Devils, number 41 overall, he's a right winger, 28 years old today, shoots right. From Kitchener, Ontario, he was given a PTO with the Florida Panthers. Professional tryout for those of you who do not understand. One of the things that happened to him this past season, that is to note, he did deal with a pretty significant hand injury that kept him out three different times between March of 2026 to May of 2026. He has a lot of experience in the NHL. When I say tenure-wise, not 82 game seasons, and I'll show you that in just a moment, but here we go. Florida Panthers have signed Nathan Bastian to a PTO for training camp. Let me show you some of his numbers from the past couple of years. This is 2023-2024 season. His numbers aren't bad. Bottom six guy. Here, let me go this way so you guys can see it. There you go. 59 games played, 10 points, four goals, six assists, minus four, 44 shots. The thing about him, if you could look in that top corner there, he's 6'4", 217 pounds. An opposing forward. Big, versatile, two-way guy. Grinding player. He makes playing defense for opposing defensemen a living hell. He uses that body to protect the puck against the boards. He pushes guys against the boards. He's a very physical guy. He will throw checks. When he's healthy, he's a hundred plus hit guy for a given season. What is amazing about that number, he has a hundred hits and doesn't play 82 games. I'll show you a little bit later the numbers that he's had. So this is the 2024-2025 season. The only 36 games played, six goals, one assist. Sorry, one assist. A plus four rating. Not a lot of penalty minutes. So the smart thing about this kid is, not kid, but 28 years old, he doesn't commit a lot of tremendous penalties. He'll drop the gloves with the best of them and stick up for his guys. He does throw the hits, so he will get in fights from now, you know, from time to time. And I'm going to show you a video in just a moment about what he can bring to the table. So he can win pucks, like I said, by using his size and strength. And he's very heavy on the four check. He really does use the size to his advantage. When you see in the video, I'm going to show you about some of the highlights. He does a phenomenal job in front of the net. He uses that big body. He has great hand-eye coordination, deflects the puck, but he can also shoot pretty well. He's got a pretty decent wrist shot and he can control. His value does come from the board work, the net front presence, cycle play, physical disruption, and his long reach will compensate defensively. That is one area of his game he does need to improve, is his defense. So again, I will say, do you guys think he is someone that should be considered to potentially go in for Marchand in the beginning of the season? Maybe be a part of that bottom line if he has a good preseason, if he's physical, if he's able to throw pucks at the net, if he's able to show he's still got a lot in the tank. And I think this guy does. Let me show you what he's capable of doing. Here we go. Give it a second for it to play. Look at that. Can definitely throw the body around. I mean, what a huge hit. I mean, this is several years ago, but still we know he can do it. Here's him on a breakaway, able to lift that puck. Look at this hand-eye stick, hand-eye coordination, knocking the puck in the back of the net. Another spot in front, just got a stick on that, got his blade on it, and does it again there. Good deflection in. Comes from the point, deflects in. The guy can do it. He's a talented individual, not a big time, you know, going to put up a ton of numbers. Throw this over here so you guys can see a little bit better. There you go. 300 in total, 312 total games played, 39 goals, 36 assists. Time on ice is probably where you'd think it would be as a bottom six forward. Has some playoff experience with 17 games played, a goal and assist. Numbers are not terrible for a guy that you can bring in. Now, here are his regular season numbers. Like I said, he's not an 82-game season kind of player, but you see, he'll average somewhere around that probably 45 to 55-game mark. Will the Florida Panthers, if he plays well, give him a shot and say, all right, you can come in for Marchand. We'll see how things go. I still think Vilmanis should get the shot of being on that third line with Lundell and Lustreinen. Tell me what you think down below. Should it be Vilmanis, or do you want to bring in a guy like Bastian who is big, who is physical? I mean, come on, 6'4", 217 pounds. He plays the kind of grinded out hockey that we play. I think he fits the bill perfectly for what Paul Maurice is looking for in a bottom six forward. Think of Gajevic, Hathaway, physical style of play. That's what he brings to the table. Not a lot of penalty minutes too. He's careful with what he does on the ice. Does need to improve, like I said, that defensive play, but he makes up for it because of that length. Such a tall, big hockey player. And one thing that is great about him is he won't cost us a ton of money. He'll take the veteran minimum. Last year for Dallas, he only made $775,000. It's something we could do if we do decide to place Marchand on a long-term injury reserve, which they might do. I've already said this before. I know a lot of you are like, oh, don't put him on LTIR. That's going to be such a massive mistake. I don't think it's a mistake. I think you let him rehab it as long as he needs to, until he says, and the doctors say, hey, look, he's at 110%. Not 100%. He's rested long enough. He looks comfortable. He feels good on the ice. We're not going to take any risk because the last thing that the Florida Panthers need is for him to come back, re-aggravate, and then he's out again. But that's the reason why we're giving Bastion and other players some PTOs, getting them on the ice, see what they can do. I already said yesterday, there's Lafferty out there. There's Hathaway that's out there. There's a lot of players he's going to be competing with, but I think it's going to be very healthy competition. That's what Bill Zito is trying to bring in. Good, healthy, strong competition for guys trying to make that bottom line, that fourth line. That's what they're trying to do. Who is it that's going to maybe sneak in there? Anybody can. I love his size. I like the strength. Albeit, I do think Lomberg, a couple of years ago, beat the caca out of him after Bastion was going and trying to defend one of his players after Lomberg hit one of his guys in New Jersey. He came in and Lomberg actually knocked the snot out of him. He can fight, but not that well. But we all know Lomberg really knows how to fight. So anyways, guys, that's it for this episode. Let me know what you think about Nathan Bastion. Look him up. Check out his stats. Go look at some of his highlights. He's a good player. I like what I saw when I was looking at the tape. The little bit that I showed you here is not enough to do it justice. I think there's a lot there to work with. I think the Panthers, in terms of their front office, are doing a great job trying to find other talent out there. Give them a shot. Let's see what they're capable of doing. Maybe you find a diamond in the rough. Obviously, they're not coming to training camp because Bill Zito and that front office staff, the scouts, don't have an eye for finding someone who's like, hey, there's potential here. Let's see how he comes in. Let's see how he competes with everybody else. Give him a shot because you know what? It's a win-win for us getting a guy on the cheap who could potentially go out there, be physical, be big, be able to put pucks in the back of the net, not 15, 20 goals in a season. But for the time being, for maybe 20 games if we need him, he could be our guy on the cheap. But that's it. Let me know. Comment down below. Until next time, and again, try to get out there and see the Cats. Not tomorrow, but Friday and Saturday you can. Fan Fest is on Saturday. First game for preseason Sunday, 7 p.m. against Carolina at home at the Emmer Bank Arena. Go check it out. Anyways, guys, again, that's it. Just a refresher for you. Let me know what you think about Nathan Bastian, and anybody else, if you have comments about questions, let me know. Comment down below. Go Cats!