Early Season Look-In: Florida Panthers
For the first time ever, the Florida Panthers came into a season with some expectations.
The Panthers were one of the biggest surprises in the NHL in 2020-21. They put up a 37-14-5 record, far and away their best season in franchise history in terms of points percentage (.705) and finished fourth in the overall league standings with 79 points.
Unfortunately, the Panthers’ excellent season came to an end in the first round of the playoffs as they dropped the Battle of Florida to the eventual Stanley Cup winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Since it’s the Panthers, a messy franchise that has teased with one-and-done hot years in the past, and since last season was a short schedule, there’s been some hesitancy to accept that this team is legit. But, after a 5-0-0 start this year, the Panthers are proving their doubters wrong.
What’s happened so far in 2021-22…
The expectation for Florida after their breakout season last year is to do two things that the franchise hasn’t done since the mid-90s: reach the playoffs in back-to-back years and win a playoff round.
The Panthers’ last playoff round victory came in 1996 when they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. The last time they reached the playoffs in consecutive years was 1996 and 1997, when they lost in the first round to the New York Rangers the year after falling to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.
So far, so good.
The Panthers are one of the four remaining undefeated teams left in the league, along with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Carolina Hurricanes. Their 5-0-0 record has them looking like the class of the Atlantic Division and it becomes even more impressive when you look at who they’ve done it against.
Florida has beaten a trio of legitimate Stanley Cup contenders early on, the Avalanche, Lightning and Islanders. Their two “easier” victories have come against a pair of playoff contenders, the Penguins and Flyers.
Everything is clicking for this team early on. They’ve scored at least four goals in all of their games and they’ve only allowed more than two goals in a game once. They’re getting offense from up and down the lineup, as eight different Panthers have at least two goals, and both of their goalies have been strong, combining for a .946 save percentage.
Players to watch…
Florida’s goaltending is going to be extremely interesting to watch this year.
In 2021, a big part of the team’s success was Chris Driedger, who posted a .927 save percentage over 23 games. The Panthers ultimately let Driedger go to the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft, due in part to the young goaltender they had coming up to replace him.
Spencer Knight, the team’s No. 13 overall pick from the 2019 Draft, was amazing in his NHL debut last year, posting a .919 save percentage over four regular-season games and a .933 save percentage in two playoff games.
Knight has the potential to become the first goalie to win the Calder Trophy for the league’s rookie of the year since Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets won in 2008-09, who had a .919 save percentage that season. Will Knight get that much action? Not if Sergei Bobrovsky keeps playing the way he has been.
One of the most encouraging storylines from Florida’s hot start has been Bobrovsky returning to his elite form.
Bobrovsky hasn’t been good at all in the first two seasons of his massive, seven-year, $70 million deal that he inked back in 2019, a few days after Florida drafted Knight. But, so far in 2021, Bobrovsky has looked like the Vezina winner he used to be, as he owns a .942 save percentage through four starts.
Small sample size, sure, but Bobrovsky returning to form and Knight putting together a big rookie season would give Florida arguably the best goalie duo in the league.
What did they do in the offseason?
Notable Additions: Sam Reinhart, Joe Thornton, Olli Juolevi.
Notable Subtractions: Alex Wennberg, Keith Yandle, Chris Driedger, Anton Stralman, Lucas Wallmark.
The theme of Florida’s offseason was freeing up salary cap room and getting important players inked to new contracts.
Florida bought out the remaining two seasons of the seven-year deal that Keith Yandle signed back in 2016, gave the Coyotes a prospect and a second-round draft pick to take Anton Stralman off their hands, and they let Chris Driedger and Alex Wennberg join the Seattle Kraken.
With that open cap room, the Panthers signed a bunch of players who were important to last season’s success to multi-year deals.
Anthony Duclair got a three-year contract after playing well on his one-year show-me deal, Carter Verhaeghe got a three-year extension after his out-of-the-blue breakout showing, and Sam Bennett got a four-year deal after his explosion that began when he was acquired at the trade deadline.
The Panthers also pulled the trigger on a big trade, sending a first-round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for Sam Reinhart, who they signed to a three-year contract shortly after.
Right at the start of the season, the Panthers signed captain Aleksander Barkov to an eight-year deal worth $10,000,000 annually, ensuring last year’s Selke Trophy winner will play the bulk of his career in Florida.
Next up, Jonathan Huberdeau. The former No. 3 overall pick is set to become a free agent following 2022-23 and the Panthers will more than likely look to get it done before the season starts so it isn’t a distraction at all, as they did with Barkov. A matching $10 million deal here seems likely.
One bold prediction…
The Panthers finally win a playoff series for the first time since their Stanley Cup Final run in 1996. They beat their cousins from Tampa Bay, making the whole thing even sweeter.
Make sure to head to subscribe to ESPN+ at the link below where for just $69.99 USD a year, you can catch all the action.
