The strengths of the season 43 LA Panthers include many of the same players as in past years. Their ongoing key strengths are a core of high-powered veteran players and the brick wall of Evgueni Marmeladov in net. A new strength is the continuing development of key younger players.

There are a few forwards and one defenseman who have been absolutely essential to the Panthers over the past few seasons. Sophia Bennett, Matthew Auston, Maximilian Wachter and Jean-Luc Reflieux have been those forwards. None have won any recent scoring titles, but all of them are key offensive contributors as well as having robust two-way games. At the other end is Matthew Leetch, who lacks a physical side to his game, but is amazing at every other part, playing so well that he was able to shelter a rookie defensemen in the Panthers’ recent trip to the finals.

The play of net minder Evgueni “Marmy” Marmeladov has been nothing less than stellar in recent seasons, and has frequently bailed the Panthers out in games they had no business winning. He’ll probably need to continue that trend.

The final strength is the progression of young players, specifically the two defensemen out of Halifax, James Johnson and Jon Toner. Toner is more of a point man, while Johnson is more responsible in his own end, but they’ll need both to take another step forward to win this year.