FORT LAUDERDALE \u2014\u00a0For the first time in 12 years,\u00a0Jacob Markstrom\u00a0was back in net for the Florida Panthers on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
Markstrom was originally drafted by the Panthers in the second round of the 2008 NHL Draft, and remained with the organization until he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for\u00a0Roberto Luongo\u00a0in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After 11 seasons and three teams between, the now 36-year-old returns to South Florida as the Panthers\u2019 new starting goalie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I got here, just over a month ago, I\u2019ve just been super impressed with what the team, organization and\u00a0Vinnie Viola\u00a0has done to this franchise,\u201d Markstrom said Thursday after the first training camp session.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201dPlaying against this team for the last decade or so you can see it every year, [they\u2019re] taking steps to become a better and better team\u2026 To be here and to be part of something new, and a really hungry group. I\u2019m just super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite over 12 years passing since Florida shipped Markstrom out to western Canada, there\u2019s still some remnants of the old Panthers era in Sunrise upon his return.<\/p>\n
Current Panthers defensemen\u00a0Dmitry Kulikov\u00a0and\u00a0Alexander Petrovic, as well as center\u00a0Sasha Barkov, were all teammates with Markstrom during the 2013-14 NHL season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barkov, who was a rookie in 2013, recalled Markstrom allowed him to use his car for his Florida driver\u2019s license test.<\/p>\n
\u201dI got to do the driver\u2019s license [test] in his car,\u201d Barkov said on Wednesday at Panthers media day. \u201cI still remember that. I hope he does too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barkov will be delighted to know that Markstrom said he\u00a0doesremember the favor he provided to his then young teammates, now a two-time Stanley Cup winning captain, so many years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI figured he can do it because he\u2019s probably going to make a lot of money because I saw him in practice and he looked pretty darn good,\u201d Markstrom said with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I figured if he crashes the car, he can buy me a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of time has changed since teenage Barkov was taking Markstrom\u2019s Range Rover for a spin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barkov is a 31-year-old man who has cemented himself as one of the best two-way forwards in the modern game, the Panthers have a new state-of-the-art practice facility near downtown Fort Lauderdale, and there are two Stanley Cup banners hanging from the rafters in Sunrise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Markstrom, he\u2019s no longer the 24-year-old goalie on a struggling NHL team. He\u2019s a well established veteran looking to backstop his new team to another Stanley Cup title.<\/p>\n
\u201dI\u2019m a completely different person, a completely different goalie from what I was more than a decade ago,\u201d Markstrom said when asked if putting on the Panthers jersey brought back old memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a special place for sure. A lot of good memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, I\u2019m hoping to create a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS\u00a0PRESEASON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE \u2014\u00a0For the first time in 12 years,\u00a0Jacob Markstrom\u00a0was back in net for the Florida Panthers on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,16995,135914,15951,54143,160525,53657,75118],"class_list":["post-403542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-panthers","tag-jacob-markstrom","tag-nhl-trade","tag-roberto-luongo","tag-sasha-aleksander-barkov","tag-sergei-bobrovsky","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}