FORT LAUDERDALE – Sandis Vilmanis could not have asked for a better preseason.
Making it all the way to the end of a notoriously grueling training camp with the Florida Panthers, the young Latvian goal-scorer took in all the teachings that he could heading into his first pro campaign.
Even though he’s starting the season in the AHL, the Panthers are bullish on his future.
“We look at him almost in the same ways that we looked at Mackie Samoskevich,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “Like Mackie last year, there was a lot of things in the game that you would believe will fit in an NHL game. He's going to go down [to the AHL] and learn the pro-intensity, the ability to stay in the entire shift involved, and shift after shift. We think he's a really strong skater, has a good shot. There's some creativity to his game, and a willingness to play hard. It's just about experience, playing hard, shift after shift. The American Hockey League is a really strong league.”
In five preseason games, the 20-year-old registered five points (three goals, two assists).
“I'm just getting more experience and more confidence on the ice,” Vilmanis said.
On the biggest of those three goals, Vilmanis brought some overtime magic into the lives of fans when he scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over the rival Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 2.