FORT LAUDERDALE — The Panthers’ youngest Olympian returned to South Florida beyond thrilled after his latest journey saw him go from the AHL to the Olympics.

Winger Sandis Vilmanis only got called up from AHL Charlotte in January. A month later, he was playing on the biggest international stage.

“It’s been a lot of emotions — an emotional whirlwind, you’d say,” Vilmanis said. “It was a quick turnaround from going from Charlotte to here and then to Olympics. It’s just been an amazing month for me. … The experience that I have right now is crazy and unbelievable.”

A former fifth-round draft pick, the 22-year-old Vilmanis notched 19 points in 31 games for the Panthers’ AHL affiliate. Florida called him up on Jan. 10.

Vilmanis has played 14 games for the Panthers since being called up, scoring twice and notching two assists. He has an even plus-minus.

“He’s gotten a couple of really good quick releases off in the slot to score, so we think (the ability is) there,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said.

Vilmanis went to Italy to play for his home country, Latvia, in the Winter Olympics. He did not score or record an assist in Latvia’s four games, and he had a -4 plus-minus. He did play more than 18 minutes in Latvia’s win over Germany in the preliminary round. Vilmanis said when he was not with the team, he spent his time with family members who made the trip to Milan.

“I think it definitely helped me,” Vilmanis said. “… Even the last year in the AHL helped me a lot to develop for this year. I feel a lot more confident. And of course these last months, spending time with the NHL players here in the locker room, yeah, it’s just been a really good learning period for me, too. And just seeing what they’re doing and trying to learn every day and putting that out there in the Olympics was really good.”

Vilmanis played with fellow Panther Uvis Balinskis on the Latvian team. Balinskis was an assistant captain for his national team, and he praised Vilmanis’ performance.

“He did great,” Balinskis said. “I think the call-up before (the) Olympics, a little time in the NHL, helped him a lot.”

Maurice said Vilamanis is “quite a bit ahead of the curve” for a player his age.

“There’s a lot of hard parts to the game that seem to come natural to him,” Maurice said. “He is physical, but he can hang on to pucks, stop pucks, win puck battles. We were talking about it after (with) one of the coaches: He can see the game in the practice drills. So whether you’re running a three-on-two or it’s a five — whatever it is that you’re running, he can run his routes as he would in a game, even in the drill. I think he’s fairly advanced at that for a young guy.”