NHL

Renaud Lavoie of RDS reported Huberdeau played with the injury his entire rookie season, which makes his inaugural NHL season a bit more impressive. The Calder Trophy finalists finished with 14 goals and 31 points in 48 games for a Panthers team that was basically an AHL club by the middle of March due to injuries. Huberdeau is expected to be 100 percent in time for training camp.

The Panthers are in the middle of a 30-year lease with the county, and they play under the same scoreboard that the arena opened with in 1998. County auditor Evan Lukic believes the team should pay for the upgrade, while Panthers president Michael Yormark thinks the county should. "We have puts tens of millions of dollars into this building since it has opened,'' Yormark said. "The county has not put one dollar into this building as a gift or as capital improvement. Not one. We've taken loans out, but we're responsible for those. It's their building. They own it. The scoreboard is a permanent fixture. If the Florida Panthers leave tomorrow, we couldn't take it with us. We've been a great partner. They haven't had to put any money into this building in 15 years.'' An NHL representative will be at Tuesday's board meeting.

The award is voted on by the writers and broadcasters who cover the league. Trocheck also took home the Eddie Powers Trophy as Top OHL Scorer after he notched 50 goals and 59 assists for 109 points in 63 games. He also finished with a league-high plus-minus rating of plus-49. "We are extremely proud that Vince has been selected as the OHL's Most Outstanding Player of the Year," said Florida Panthers Executive VP/GM Dale Tallon. "Vince had an exceptional season this year capturing the OHL scoring title, while leading Plymouth in scoring during the playoffs. He is one of our prospects who has matured and developed through hard work and dedication since being drafted. We are excited about his continued growth and development within our organization." Trocheck was a third-round pick of the Panthers in the 2011 draft and he may get a shot to make the big club out of training camp next season.

Weiss was struggling offensively before undergoing wrist surgery in March but is generally regarded as one of the best two-way centers in the NHL. That would fit coach Barry Trotz's style quite well, but, unfortunately for Nashville, there's been talk from both the Panthers and Weiss' camp that he'd prefer to re-sign with the Panthers. If Weiss isn't an option, Cooper also mentioned Derek Roy and Nathan Horton as potential targets up front with Sergei Gonchar as an option on the blue line.

Huberdeau will be up against the Canadiens Brendan Gallagher and Chicago's Brandon Saad and is likely the slight favorite at this time. Huberdeau had 14 goals and 31 points in 48 games for the lowly Panthers while Gallagher had 15 goals and 28 points with Saad tallying 10 goals and 27 points. The trophy's winner will be announced during the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers had the best chance of getting the first overall selection at 25 percent, but the Avalanche hit the jackpot with their 18.8 percent odds. "I've been watching the top three for and have a good idea and feel for who they are," GM Dale Tallon said Sunday. "We're going to get a really good player in the first two picks." If Colorado does the expected and chooses WHL defenseman Seth Jones then Florida could select from a talented group that includes QMJHL forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, as well as Finnish forward Aleksander Barkov.

Nick Bjugstad (United States), Brian Campbell (Canada), Jacob Markstrom (Sweden), Marcel Goc (Germany) and Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic) will also take part in the tournament.