Mack Guzda helps the Florida Panthers stack the deck in goal

Barely over five years out from the NHL’s Goaltending Golden Years — referring to the stretch from 2014 to 2016 when the league as a whole saw the average goaltender posting .915 unadjusted save percentages and allowing just a hair over 2.5 goals per game — scoring is back on the rise in the NHL.

So it seemed almost a bit surprising when, on Monday, the Florida Panthers won the bid to add undrafted free agent goaltender Mack Guzda to their arsenal via an entry-level deal in his final year of OHL play. The team down in southern Florida already boasts a goaltending giant on an albatross contract in the form of Sergei Bobrovski, after all, and one of the NHL’s most promising young talents in net in the form of Spencer Knight. They also just spent a fifth-round pick on Kirill Gerasimyuk at last