The Florida Panthers added six players to its prospect cupboard on Saturday at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft in Buffalo, NY. Los Gatos selected four forwards, a defenseman and a goaltender.
After sitting out Friday night’s first round, the Panthers started off by nabbing forward Simas Ignatavičius early in the second round with the 40th overall pick.
Ignatavicius is a physically advanced teenager with good size that’s an identity match with how Florida wants their forwards to play the game. While a bit raw, Ignatavičius has plenty of tools. He moves his feet well and displays cycling attributes with his puck protection and wall play. His hand-eye coordination is very good and he’s often planted in front of the net. Ignatavičius appeared in 52 games in the Swiss National League and didn’t look out of place at all, finishing the season with seven goals and six assists. There is a lot to like about Ignatavičius, who was born in Memphis and has represented Lithuanaia internationally, and under Bill Zito, the Panthers have never been a team to shy away from a player from a non-traditional hockey background.
Using the pick they acquired from the Washington Capitals for Justin Sourdif, the Panthers chose another forward, Ryder Cali, with the 48th overall pick.
Cali is a center with a high-revving motor who produced 16 goals and 20 assists in 47 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s North Bay Battalion. His totals would have been higher had a separated shoulder not kept him out for 19 games. Cali put up four points in ten postseason games and has solid NHL potential.
Florida was without a pick in the third round, so their next selection came in the fourth when they selected defenseman Jonas Kemps, a towering defenseman from California 98th overall.
Kemps spent the 2025-26 season in the USHL with the Chicago Steel. He appeared in 57 regular season games and totaled two goals and seven assists while racking up 52 PIM. The next two years appear to be mapped out for the 6’6″ Kemps. He’s slated to spend next season in the WHL with the Seattle Thundebirds and then in 2027-28, he’s committed to Michigan State University. He’s obviously a long-term project, but taking a extremely tall teenager with long reach and good mobility is always a worthy selection in the middle rounds.
The Cats didn’t have a fifth-rounder, so after a bit of a wait, they added forwards Vilho Vanhatalo (168th overall) and Cole Zurawski (181st overall) thirteen picks apart in the sixth.
Continuing the trend of size. Vanhatalo is a power forward in the making. This feisty Finn spent the majority of 2025-26 anchoring Tappara’s U20 team in the SM-sarja, where he posted 10 goals, nine assists, and 43 PIM in 38 games. His performance earned him eight games with the men in Liiga, where he recorded his first professional assist.
Zurawski is a shoot-first player who amassed 24 goals and 46 points in his second season with OHL’s Owen Sound Attack. He’s a strong skater with a powerful stride who is adept at working past the opposition and firing the puck at the net. Zurawski will play the 2025-26 season at Notre Dame with the Fighting Irish.
Florida’s last selection of the day was goaltender Louis-Antoine Denault, who was taken in the seventh round (217th overall) with the pick the Panthers received from the Minnesota Wild for veteran defenseman Jeff Petry.
If the name sounds familiar to you, that’s because the 6’8″ Denault attended development camp with the Cats last summer. This season, he appeared in 42 games split between the Quebec Remparts and Newfoundland Regiment of the QMJHL. His combined record was 22-16-3 and he posted a 2.69 goals against average and .913 save percentage in 25 games with the Regiment.