With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to take a look at where each NHL team stands at this moment with a series of posts examining their season. Have they met expectations? Exceeded expectations? Who has been the surprise? All of that and more. Today we look at the Florida Panthers.
Florida Panthers
Record: 35-26-8 (69 games), fourth in the Atlantic Division, out of playoffs
Leading Scorer: Jonathan Huberdeau 78 points (23 goals and 55 assists)
In-Season Roster Moves
• Traded Ian McCoshen to the Chicago Blackhawks for Aleksi Saarela
• Acquired Chris Wilkie from the Ottawa Senators for Jack Rodewald
• Traded Kevin Roy to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ryan Haggerty
• Acquired Mason Marchment from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Denis Malgin
• Traded Anthony Greco to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Danick Martel
• Sent a 2020 sixth-round pick to the Dallas Stars for Emil Djuse
• Traded Vincent Trocheck to the Carolina Hurricanes for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark, Eetu Luostarinen and Chase Priskie
Season Overview
The Panthers have the offensive firepower necessary to be one of the strong teams in the NHL. Having Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Evgenii Dadonov, Mike Hoffman, Brett Connolly, Noel Acciari and Frank Vatrano is a nice luxury. That’s a group of forwards that most teams would love to have. So, why haven’t the Panthers had much success over the last few seasons?
Coming into this season, many expected the Panthers to finish in a Wild Card spot and it’s easy to see why. They hired Joel Quenneville, we already talked about their offensive ability and they added free-agent goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for $10 million per season. Still, they found themselves outside of the playoff picture when the NHL went on pause.
There’s a few major issues right now.
First, their overall defense hasn’t been good enough. Only two Eastern Conference teams (Ottawa and Philadelphia) have given more goals than Florida (280). Offense has spiked over the last couple of seasons, but the truly elite teams are the ones that can shut the game down when they have an advantage. The Panthers clearly can’t do that yet.
Whether or not spending $70 million on a goalie works out remains to be seen. Bobrovsky’s first year in Florida didn’t go as well as anybody expected. At the pause, he had a 23-19-6 record with a 3.23 goals-against-average and a .900 save percentage.
Some of that might be him adjusting to a new team and new city and some of it might be the show quality that his teammates are giving up in front of him. No matter what the reason is, he has to find his game in a hurry if the Panthers are going to compete for a playoff spot this year, next year and beyond.
Highlight of the Season
There was a stretch of games at the end of 2019 where it seemed like Huberdeau was unstoppable. He put together back-to-back four-point performances on Dec. 16 and 20, and he added another four-point night on Dec. 29 when he dominated the Montreal Canadiens. He accumulated 16 points during that six-game stretch.
Huberdeau probably had the quietest 90-plus point season ever last year, but he’s become a household name now.
MORE PANTHERS:
• Panthers’ biggest surprises, disappointments
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.
