Panthers rookie Justin Sourdif to make NHL debut Monday in New Jersey

BY DAVID DWORK

The Florida Panthers are two games into the 2023-24 NHL season and they've already had two players make their respective NHL debuts. 

Both Mackie Samoskevich and Uvis Balinskis saw their hockey dreams come true on Thursday night when Florida opened the season against the Minnesota Wild. 

On Monday night in New Jersey, it will be Justin Sourdif's turn. 

"I'm pretty excited right now," Sourdif said after Florida's morning skate in New Jersey. "My first NHL game, it's my childhood dream."

The 21-year-old is playing in his second professional season but came in looking to hit the reset button following an injury plagued year during his initial campaign with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers. 

It appears he's done just that, as Sourdif has stood out for all the right reasons since the start of development camp back in July.

Florida's 2020 third-round pick continued that momentum into a strong showing at the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase, but when he kept it up with the big boys at NHL Training Camp, it was clear Sourdif was ready to take the next step.

Florida’s decision makers agreed, keeping him on the Panthers roster when the team kicked off its season opening three-game road trip last week.

Sourdif has been in the pressbox for each of the Panthers losses in Minnesota and Winnipeg, but Monday night he’ll head to the locker room and put on his No. 24 jersey, take his rookie warmup lap and begin what he hopes will be a long and successful NHL journey.

"It will probably be pretty tough to get a nap in this afternoon because of all the nerves, but I'll be ready to go tonight," he said through a smile. 

He skated on a line with Nick Cousins and Anton Lundell during Florida’s morning skate at the Prudential Center. 

New Jersey is a young team that moves quickly with and without the puck, which Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice thought was a good opponent for the speedy Sourdif to battle in NHL game No. 1. 

"This will be a fast game in here tonight," Maurice said. "Sourdif can skate with the best of them, so it's the right place for him to go in."

Based off the line rushes, it appears the odd man out will be fellow rookie Mackie Samoskevich. 

Maurice said the goal after training camp was to get both rookies some NHL playing time and see how they handled it. 

On the same token, Samoskevich coming out of the lineup after playing in Florida's first two games is just part of Maurice's process of getting the rookie acclimated to the day-to-day grind of the NHL. 

"We wanted to get both of those young men in a game fairly early in the year based on the camp that they had had, so the door was open," Maurice said. "I'm fine with with Mackie's game. He's going to learn by watching and by playing."