Davies has wrapped up his first professional season, which was entertaining. His “hit everything that moves” mentality made him look the part both in the AHL and ECHL, and while he was not as productive as some liked, there is still plenty of NHL runway for Davies. His shot is one of his better traits and one that could help him carve out a role in the bottom-six. The thing Panthers fans should be most excited about, Davies, is how his game will work in the playoffs. Players like Davies often find themselves on Cup-winning fourth lines. His upside may be a bit limited, but it would not be shocking to see him get more and more promotions as he continues to develop his all-around game.

Davies is an entertaining player to watch. He made tons of noise during the NHL preseason after laying out Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman with a clean, open-ice hit, introducing the league to the kind of player he is. Those familiar with his game were unsurprised that he has already earned some notoriety. He has split time between the AHL and ECHL thus far, scoring his first two professional goals with the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL this past weekend. After just three games in the ECHL, Davies has earned a call-up to the AHL, which was announced the day after his triple-header in the ECHL. His style of play is valued in the NHL, and once he proves himself at the AHL level, he will earn his call to the pinnacle of the sport.

32 NHL teams want somebody like Josh Davies playing in their bottom six. Davies skates fast, plays hard, and brings the intensity up to 11 every shift. He lacks discipline but has presumably gotten better with it as he took 40 fewer PIMs in 2023-24 than in 2022-23 while also taking on a larger role. He had his most productive season in the WHL on the Portland Winterhawks’ second line. Playing alongside a pair of 100-point scorers in Gabe Klassen and James Stefan, Davies’ production should be taken with a heavy grain of salt, but that does not detract from his skill. Davies will need some time in the minors to further refine his defensive skills, which are already a solid part of his game. With his physicality and speed, he looks like he will be a player who spends the majority of his time on a 3rd or 4th line but gets thrown into the top six whenever his team is losing and the coach puts the lines in a blender. Davies will likely need a year to mature in the AHL, but it would not be surprising to see him be one of the final cuts from Panthers camp this fall or get a call-up if an injury were to occur.

One of the hardest hitters of the 2022 draft, Davies has added a deft offensive touch in his third WHL campaign. After putting up a lacklustre 70 points across his first two WHL seasons, he currently has 51 points in only 34 games for the Portland Winterhawks, where he plays with fellow Panthers prospect Marek Alscher, also drafted in 2022. Because this scoring uptick is happening so late in his junior career, take it with a heavy dose of salt to project similar numbers at the next level. He has all the makings of a Cal Clutterbuck-type pest who hits everything that moves and ends up in the penalty box more often than his coach would like. But players like that who can mix snarl and skill don’t come along every day, so he likely will get a chance in the Cats’ bottom six at some point in the coming years.