President's Trophy Panthers

[Brewin Flames]

Florida Panthers clinch franchise's first Presidents' Trophy, top seed in playoffs

12:19 AM ET

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  Kristen ShiltonESPN NHL reporter

The Florida Panthers are Presidents' Trophy winners for the first time in franchise history, finishing the regular season with 122 points.

 

Florida claimed the NHL's top spot in the standings on Thursday after defeating Ottawa 4-0 and seeing Colorado lose to Nashville 5-4 in a shootout.

This was just the second season where Florida had ever eclipsed 100 points, following a 103-point effort in 2015-16.

Interestingly, the Presidents Trophy winner hasn't historically fared well in the NHL playoffs. Since 2001-02, the league's top point-getter has won the Stanley Cup only three times: Detroit in 2002 and 2008, and Chicago in 2013. That was also the last time a Presidents' Trophy winner even appeared in the Cup Final.

 

The Panthers will attempt to change that narrative when the postseason opens on May 2. Florida has been one of the NHL's most dominant offensive squads all year, with four players past the 30-goal mark and as the only club to average more than four goals per game.

 

GM Bill Zito did all he could at March's trade deadline to make the Panthers even better. He went all-in acquiring Ben Chiarot from Montreal for, among other assets, a 2023 first-round pick, and Zito brought in former Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux for a package that included another first-round draft choice.

 

It hasn't all been smooth sailing for Florida though. The Panthers have weathered their share of injury issues, particularly to captain Aleksander Barkov. Top-pairing defenseman Aaron Ekblad has also been sidelined since mid-March with an injury; the team is hopeful he'll be able to return in the first round, though.

Getting Ekblad back would be especially helpful given where the Panthers' have struggled.

 

The team's overall depth of offensive gifts has had to save them more often of late from defensive and goaltending lapses. Florida is the NHL's leader in win percentage (.407) when trailing after two periods, a playing-from-behind problem that became more pronounced as the regular season wound down.

 

But often, Florida's goal-scoring prowess has seen them through storms. Now the Panthers enter the NHL's second season with a target on their back at the top team to beat.

[Trash Queen]

The season is a very long marathon and I do congratulate a team for an accomplishment like this. To do something like this you have to stay away from the long losing streaks and also the dreaded injury bug. 

 

The thing is the playoffs are a whole different ballgame. More like short sprints and if the Panthers come up against a hot team in one of these short series they are done. It is as simple as that. That is why I love the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the excitement of it. 

[Toronto Jules]

The Florida Panthers are getting their monies worth in this first round series from the veteran team of the Washington Capitals. I still believe the Florida Panthers will come out of this series with the series win because they are the all around better team, but the Capitals are not going to go down lightly. 

[Rat Trick]

Everyone looks at this team as an offensive juggernaut and with putting up 340 goals in the regular season I can see why they would do so.

 

This team however is a well rounded team from the Goalie in Bobrovsky out to the Defense in Weegar, Ekblad, Chiarot, Forsling, Montour, and Gudas. Yes the offense is very impressive, but a lot of this comes from the back end from the likes of Weegar and Ekblad. Shutting down offensive stars like Barkov, Huberdeau, Verhaeghe, Bennett,Reinhart, Duclair, Hornqvist, and the addition of Giroux is a mighty tough task for any team. Even the ones with the best defenses and goalies. The Panthers have great depth at every position and even in the net with a capable back up in Spencer Knight.