Florida Panthers: Top Prospects 25-21

25. Stephen Silas, D, 18, Georgetown, Ontario

6’0, 205lbs

Drafted 4^th round (113^th overall) in 2010

 Silas’s saw his stock rise a lot last year after putting up an impressive 49 point year on defense, with the weak Belleville Bulls. His impressive play at the prospects game in which he was used to shut down Taylor Hall, and his sheer consistency in his defensive game all year made it worth the pick for the Panthers. This year has been disappointing for Silas, Belleville continues to sit near the bottom and with no goals in the first 30 games of the year and only 12 assists, it hasn’t been an impressive post draft year for the 6’0 defenseman, but the promise is still there.

“We really like Silas and feel that we made a safer pick than we usually do when we took him. His defensive capabilities and his skating are strong enough to make a pretty close surefire bottom pairing D which adds solid depth to our franchise and we need these type of players. We still feel there is more to his game, when we drafted him our scouts said he really worked well on the PP and could be a future PP QB, but so far this year we haven’t seen any indications of that. He’s still a few years away, we hope he can continue his progress this year and step it up for the second half of the year, and then hopefully go back to the OHL next year and dominate from start to finish. We just hope he can work on his speed and just continue to be very solid defensively and then we got ourselves a good player here.”

24. Marcel Müller, LW, 22, Berlin, Germany

6’4, 220lbs

Drafted 4^th round (99^th overall) in 2010

After an impressive year in the German DEL league and a coming out party at the Olympics for Germany, Marcel Müller soon found himself on a lot of pro team’s radars. The Panther’s brass made note of it and made sure that they would take the 6’4 German in the later rounds. His transition to the North American game has been less than stellar. He’s been a healthy scratch a few times for the Toronto Marlies and only 7 points in 25 games has led to a disappointing start. Though the chances are there and he seems to be almost at the point of breaking out.

“The most desired thing about Marcel is that he has the size and the speed which together is very deadly. He was definitely a project pick for us but one that we couldn’t pass up on. His offensive game has been stagnant to say the least but we feel he has the intangibles to be a solid NHL’er, even if it is on a bottom two line he does have the abilities to be there. We think that he can produce more at the AHL level and we hope to see him in the pros, hopefully within a year or two.”

23. Anton Lander, C, 19, Sundsvall, Sweden

6’0, 194lbs

Drafted 2^nd round (54^th overall) in 2009

 Anton has had an interesting path since being taken by the Panthers in the 2^nd round of ’09. In his third year playing for Timra in the SEL his point totals only gradually increased from 10 to 16 which was a little disappointing for GM Wilson who expected a little more. Though his 8 points at the World Juniors and being captain of the bronze medal winning team left a positive on what was a disappointing year for Lander. Though in his 4^th year at Timra, his offensive game has caught up with 14 points in 29 games which puts him on pace to well beat his previous high. And as we prepare for the World Juniors this year, expect Lander to be another large fixture on the Swedish team and probably once again continue as the captain.

“Lander has been a pick that we have really liked. We think he does have more of an offensive game, but is a strong two-way centre that we really cherish. He is solid defensively and has great hockey sense and makes strong plays when he has the puck. The biggest reason we drafted him is that he has great leadership qualities and has always been captain for Sweden at any tournament for his age group and we really like that part of him. We really hope he comes to North America next year and spend a year in the AHL before he finally makes the jump to the pro team. We feel he is a #3 centre at worst due to his great two-way game but we still think he has the capabilities to be a top 6 forward.”

22. Andrej Nestrasil, RW, 19, Prague, Czech Republic

6’2, 200lbs

Drafted 3^rd round (75^th overall) in 2009

 Into his third year in the QMJHL and his first year with the PEI Rocket, Nestrasil continues to improve on his success and continues to become a more dominate player at the junior levels. Andrej has put up a solid 31 points in 27 games this year for the Rocket and game after game he continues to improve. The Prague native has the size and the skill to be a dominate player yet his skating is the only thing holding him back. After playing with the Czech team last year at the juniors, Andrej is expected to once again suit up for the team at Buffalo at the end of this month.

“We really like Nestrasil and he is definitely one of the bright spots we have at RW in the organization. He can work more on his size and be a little stronger in this NA game and his skating really is the only thing holding him back to being a top 6 winger in this league. Even with that drawback his size and skill still make him very desirable and will still have a great shot at being a top 6 winger. We feel that this is his last year of junior and hopefully he can play in the AHL next year and continue to hone his skills and improve his skating.”

21. Maxim Kitsyn, LW, 18, Novokuznetsk, Russia

6’2, 192lbs

Drafted 5^th round (142^nd overall) in 2010

 If you can say one thing about Kitsyn, is that he oozes skill. The young Russian winger was thought to be considered ‘the next Malkin’ at the age of 14 but so far he hasn’t lived quite up to that hype. His stock in the draft fluctuated more than anything, sometimes he was a 1^st rounder and at other times he was at the bottom of the draft. The Panthers took the risk when they drafted him in the 5^th round, but they feel it was an easy risk worth taking. The Russian continues to show that skill, evident earlier this year when he scored a hat trick, becoming the youngest player ever to do so in the Russian league. But so far that proves to be his only goals this year.

“There is no denying that Maxim has a lot of skill, but he disappears too much and lacks consistency. But when he came over for the Subway Series, his talent level seemed leaps and bounds above everyone else, and dominated the game at a lot of points. We think that the World Juniors this year will be a big stage for him this year to really show off, and hopefully after it, he stays in NA and plays for the powerhouse Mississauga and hopefully improve upon his game here, where we can have a better look at him and the ability to play the North American game and show just how good he is."