FLORIDA PANTERS DRAFT REVIEW

Shean Gardiner answered the questions and summed up the 2020 EHE entry draft for Panthers.

- Tell us a little bit about the EHE draft, what emotions were left, are you satisfied?
- To begin with, I would like to thank everyone who took part in this interesting procedure. The draft was organized at the highest level. For me it was the first draft as a GM club EHE. Until the last moment I was not sure that I could be there, but I am glad that everything worked out and I was able to attend - it was great!

- Let's move on to your selections. Are you satisfied with the 3rd pick?
- Already after the lottery, we were very happy to get the 3rd overall choice. We understood that any of the Byfield-Stutzle could become our main star in the near future.

- But you are from Germany. Probably, you wanted to get Stutzle?
- Of course I would be happy to get him. Moreover, GM Canucks approached us with a proposal to move our 3rd overall for the 2nd, but again we were ready for any of them. Besides, we would have to give something else, we thought it was not necessary. It's a sport - no problem.

- Ok, your next choice is Foerster. What do you think about him?
- Tyson has made great progress in the last year. After we had already got a center, we planned to select a player who could score a goal. Foerster has an excellent shot and it is dangerous from anywhere. We were happy to get him.

- 32nd and Wallinder.
- We originally planned to choose one of the pair of dmans - Grans-Wallinder. When Preds chose Helge with 26th, we started to worry a bit.

- Many believe that he is not very good at defense.
- Yes, we know about his weaknesses. But he is a dman with great size, great skater, great puck skills. We hope that soon he can improve his defense game.

- With 41st you selected one more German on the draft - John-Jason Peterka.
- We were very surprised to see it available. He has both great speed and quickness, and he is a very fluid skater. He also has good skills, especially his puck-handling and passing skills which are both very good. We are happy to have him.

- You used your last pick by choosing Luke Evangelista, why him?
- By that time we have already selected the center, scorer, the player with a good pass, the defenseman and we were looking for a universal player who can play both in attack and defense. In our opinion, Evangelista is an excellent two-way player who has made great progress in the last year. We hope that he will continue to develop in the future as well.

- What are the plans to FA period?
- We have several positions that we would like to strengthen, but we will not participate in the "battle of wallets". We also have a few unfinished negotiations. Perhaps in the near future we will make several deals.