The Pipeline: Vilmanis tops a Panthers system built for depth

Florida's best prospect isn't in Charlotte anymore, because he's in Paul Maurice's lineup and shooting like he plans to stay there.

Ferda number: Sandis Vilmanis has seven shots on goal through four games, which ties Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, per NHL data. He's done it in 12.3 minutes a night while both of them play more than 20. He doesn't have a point yet, and I'm not worried.

That's the encouraging part of this system: the top of it has already arrived.

The honest part is what's behind him, because Florida sent the ninth and 25th picks to Ottawa in June for Brady Tkachuk, and its 2027 first-rounder belongs to Chicago from the Seth Jones trade. Nobody on this list projects to drive a line.

I still like this group considerably more than its reputation suggests, because it's deep in exactly what a contender burns through every winter: wingers who forecheck, big defensemen who kill plays, and a 6-foot-8 goalie.

This is the first edition of The Pipeline, so there's no previous ranking to move from; the movers below are measured against the summer lists, and the order is mine.

The top 15

1. Sandis Vilmanis, LW, 22, Florida. A fifth-round pick in 2022 who had 38 points in 48 AHL games last year, then led Latvia with 11 points in eight games at the World Championship. One summer list had him first and another had him fifth, but he's the only one playing NHL minutes, so he's first here. Timeline: now.

2. Simas Ignatavicius, RW, 18, Genève-Servette (Switzerland). The 40th pick in June is 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds, and he had 13 points in 52 games against men in the Swiss league last year. The book on him is straight-line speed, a quick release and a physical edge, and it adds up to the highest ceiling in the organization. Timeline: 2029.

3. Jack Devine, RW, 23, Charlotte. The best pure offensive player in the system led the Checkers in assists last year, with 43 points in 63 games, and has two goals in two games this fall. The knock is his skating, and six NHL games without a point didn't quiet it. Timeline: a call-up this season.

4. Ryder Cali, C, Providence. The 48th pick is 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, and he had 36 points in 47 games for North Bay last year. Then he picked Hockey East over another OHL season, and I love that choice, because a big center has to earn every shift in that league. Timeline: three college winters, and that's fine.

5. Gracyn Sawchyn, C, 21, Charlotte. A 2023 second-rounder who had 23 points in 35 AHL games last year, around injuries. He forechecks, strips pucks and finds his wingers, and he centered the third line in Hershey without hitting the score sheet. A full, uninterrupted season is the whole ask. Timeline: 2027-28.

6. Marek Alscher, D, 22, Charlotte. Big, uncomplicated and exactly Florida's type, he's 6-foot-3, went plus-17 in the AHL last year and had three assists in a four-game NHL look in April. He opened on Charlotte's top pair, and he's my pick for the first defenseman called up. Timeline: this season.

7. Matvei Shuravin, D, 20, Charlotte. A 6-foot-4 defenseman who signed in June after his CSKA Moscow contract ran out, and who made his North American pro debut on Saturday. He moves well for the size and likes to carry the puck, but the decisions aren't there yet. Timeline: next season at the earliest.

8. Cooper Black, G, 25, Charlotte. An undrafted Dartmouth product who led AHL rookie goalies in wins last year, going 25-13-4 with a .903 save percentage, and then stopped 30 of 32 on opening night. He's old for a prospect list, and goalies are allowed to be. Timeline: next season.

9. Linus Eriksson, C, 20, Timrå (Sweden). The 58th pick in 2024 is the hardest call on the board. The defensive game is the selling point, and the offense isn't there yet, with two assists in six SHL games. He's a fourth-line center in waiting until the points say otherwise. Timeline: 2028.

10. Shea Busch, LW, 19, Penn State. A 2025 fourth-rounder who scored 13 goals in his first 12 games for Everett last fall. Now he's in the Big Ten, where that shot gets tested by older defensemen, and this organization is short on natural goal scorers. Timeline: two or three years.

11. Mads Kongsbak Klyvø, LW, 19, Frölunda (Sweden). Taken 112th in 2025, he has seven points in eight games between Frölunda's SHL club and its under-20 team. That's the most productive start of anybody in the European group. Timeline: 2028.

12. Jonas Kemps, D, 18, Seattle (WHL). The 98th pick is 6-foot-6 and had nine points in 57 USHL games last year, so nobody drafted him for offense. He took the new road, with the WHL now and Michigan State in 2027, and he has two assists in his first two games. Timeline: 2030, and no rush.

13. Vilho Vanhatalo, RW, 18, Tappara (Finland). My favorite late-round selection in the class. NHL Central Scouting had the 6-foot-4 winger 16th among European skaters, he played for Finland at the World Juniors, and he still lasted until 168th. He has seven points in 10 games between Tappara and its under-20s. Timeline: 2029.

14. Samu Salminen, C, 23, Charlotte. The Denver champion signed in September after 29 points in 43 games as a senior, and he won 54 percent of his draws. He was scratched on opening night and hasn't dressed yet, but two games is two games. Timeline: a depth call-up by spring.

15. Albert Wikman, D, 21, Färjestad (Sweden). A 2023 fourth-rounder with two goals in six SHL games, and the name with the loudest clock on this list. More on that below.

Stock up / Stock down

Up: Devine. He opened on Charlotte's top line with Angus Crookshank and John Beecher and scored in both games, one of them on the power play. One summer list had him second and the other had him third, and I'm with them.

Up: Vanhatalo and Klyvø. Neither made a summer top 10, but Klyvø has seven points in eight games and Vanhatalo has seven in 10, with junior games in both totals and small samples all around.

Down: Sawchyn. One list had him fourth in July and he's fifth here, which is about the time he missed last year and a quiet first weekend, not his talent.

Down: Eriksson. He was eighth in the summer and he's ninth here, because the offense is not there yet.

The Charlotte line

The Checkers are 1-1 after a split in Hershey. Saturday was a 5-2 win in which center Nate Smith had his first pro hat trick, Devine scored and Black made 30 saves.

Sunday was a 3-2 loss. Charlotte outshot the Bears 29-23 and killed all six Hershey power plays, while Alscher set up Beecher, Devine scored on the power play, and Tyler Muszelik took the loss in net.

My read is that the penalty kill travels and the kids are in real roles. Alscher is on the top pair, and Shuravin drew veteran Casey Fitzgerald, which is the right kind of partner for a first-year pro.

Next up is Providence on Saturday and Springfield on Sunday, both on the road, before the home opener on Oct. 16 against Hartford at Bojangles Coliseum.

Rights clock

June 1, 2027: Wikman, goalie Olof Glifford (HV71) and winger Shamar Moses (North Bay) all need contracts by then, or Florida loses their rights. Moses has five points in seven OHL games, and Wikman is making the best case of the three.

Next summer's restricted free agents: Alscher, goalie Kirill Gerasimyuk and forward Kai Schwindt are in the last year of their entry-level deals.

The new math: June's class is the first under the simpler rule in the new CBA. A player drafted in his first year of eligibility belongs to the team for four years, and longer if he's still in college.

Ignatavicius, Cali, Kemps, Vanhatalo and Cole Zurawski run to at least June 1, 2030. Goalie Louis-Antoine Denault was a re-entry after going undrafted a year earlier, so his clock is a year shorter and expires in 2029.

Florida has 47 of its 50 contract slots filled as of Wednesday, so there's room to sign Wikman tomorrow, and I would.

One for the draft board

Florida's first pick in 2027, as things stand, is a second-rounder from the Mackie Samoskevich trade, and it'll be the better of Columbus's or Winnipeg's.

So learn this name for that range: Noah Davidson, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound winger for Medicine Hat. He had 30 goals and 52 points as a WHL rookie, and one preseason top 32 has him 26th. Florida's scouts have a reason to be in that building anyway, because 2025 sixth-rounder Arvid Drott plays there.

A big winger with a 30-goal season behind him is the thing this list doesn't have.

The verdict

This isn't a prospect pool that wins you a trade. It's a pool that fills a fourth line, a third pair and a backup's crease for cheap, and for an organization built to contend immediately, that has real value.

The next edition arrives on the first Wednesday of November, and by then Vilmanis should have a point, and Devine should have a plane ticket.