Florida Panthers General Discussion

[JagerMeister]

Howden with a concussion, Pirri with an injury. Wow, incredibly unfortunate

Edited February 14, 2016 by JagerMeister

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Interesting off season coming up for Florida.

Obviously, some of those will depend on this season's playoff run (assuming they maintain their position and get in), but looking over their roster and corresponding salary, I see where the 'greybeards' of this team, Jagr and Thornton, are both UFA's at season's end.

 

Given both those players' ages, it would seem like a no-brainer to let them walk and sign some younger players....however, those two are no ordinary grizzled, past-their-primes veterans.

Jagr, no secret, has still been productive and many of the younger forwards on the team credit him for helping their game along.

Thornton lends an air of legitimacy to the entire team by providing a serious and championship presence on a team otherwise populated by young unproven talent.

 

One thing VERY much in Florida's favor is the current salary structure.

They don't have a glut of 'bad contracts' they have to constantly maneuver around. The only two that really stand out are Brian Campbell (36 yr old D-man with a $7.1M hit...yikes!) and Dave Boland, 29, who somehow managed to garner a $5.5M hit salary, despite him being a mostly pedestrian type player.

 

Campbell's contract is coming off the books, and unless he takes a big discount, he likely won't be returning....so that leaves Bolland as Florida's only real nettlesome contract.

Luongo has a $4.5M cap hit, but he obviously has proven he can still play and really, as a young team on the rise, you don't wanna go frugal on the goaltending.

 

That brings us back to Thornton and Jagr.

Do these two return for yet another season? At what rate?

Jagr is 3.5, while Thornton is 1.2.

 

To keep in mind, Gudbranson ($2.5M), Pirri ($925K), and Trocheck ($660K), all fine players, will be RFA's and will require nice raises.

[jammer2]

  Hilarious pick of Panthers back up Reimer and his wife.....

 

[jammer2]

An interesting article by Hockeybuzz's Florida blogger. 

 

 I did not know the Rags had informed their season ticket base that a rebuild is starting. You can tell by the TB and Bos trades that was happening, but nice to see them own up to it (really though, did they have any other choice?)

 

 Any hoo...the jist of this article is the Panthers should trade for Brendan Smith in exchange for a 3rd rd pick and the NYR retaining a mill of his money. I must ask.....has DALE TALLON LOST IT??  Has this writer lost it??  Smith JUST signed a deal for 4.4 mill....he is not even worth 2 mill....played well in the playoffs??  So, he will not go back to the same old slow, disinterested defender he was for all his yrs in Detroit??? This is INSANE....

 

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Mark-Paul/Florida-Panthers-Trading-Partners-New-York-Rangers/256/92987

[Buffalo Rick]

Well now they have Quenville and have made some big moves.  So will any fans show up?  I doubt it.  It just not a hockey market. I do not know why they continue to hold out hope for Southern Florida.  Its just not hockey country.  South beach is going to draw.  Not the Panthers. I give them two years.  They  should be much better. But will it fill the building?  Maybe on opening night.  After that, tune in when your team is in town, and look at the empty seats

[OccamsRazor]

Was signing Bob to that huge deal a big mistake?

 

Sure looks like it right now.

 

6 more years left at 10 mill per...

[AJgoal]

1 hour ago, OccamsRazor said:

Was signing Bob to that huge deal a big mistake?

 

Sure looks like it right now.

 

6 more years left at 10 mill per...

 

Yes. I also felt the same about the Price contract. When it comes to it, if that's what it takes to get Hart under contract, I'd be more inclined to let him go. Goalies can absolutely have the biggest impact game to game of any player on your team. The problem is that goes both ways. You can overcome a skater having a bad game or a bad series. A goalie is much, much tougher.

[OccamsRazor]

30 minutes ago, AJgoal said:

 

Yes. I also felt the same about the Price contract. When it comes to it, if that's what it takes to get Hart under contract, I'd be more inclined to let him go. Goalies can absolutely have the biggest impact game to game of any player on your team. The problem is that goes both ways. You can overcome a skater having a bad game or a bad series. A goalie is much, much tougher.

 

I think Hart gets the max length deal of 8 years when he comes due for one.

 

The price year on that deal I'm not sure what it will be.

 

And then when he is due for a 2nd contract it will be easier to answer.

 

In Bob's case he benefited from the Blue Jackets structure team defense which isn't the case in Florida.

 

Not sure we will see him get better next year either.

 

But them giving him 10 mill per they are expecting him to be their saviour.

[thegx.ca]

Holy F Sam Bennett with hat trick tonight against Islanders...you guys stole Bennett from us...good for Sam tonight Saturday Hockey Night in Florida

[Buffalo Rick]

So all of a sudden there are "Panther fans" out there.  For years I saw empty arena after empty arena.  Even when they were not that bad.  Now lets see if they can get fans to show up.  If not, then I think they eventually lose the franchise.  Its in Sunrise, about 20 miles N of Miami.  Its NOT a hockey town.  The Dolphins have had a tough time drawing and now that they suck, good luck.  

[OccamsRazor]

34 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

So all of a sudden there are "Panther fans" out there.  For years I saw empty arena after empty arena.  Even when they were not that bad.  Now lets see if they can get fans to show up.  If not, then I think they eventually lose the franchise.  Its in Sunrise, about 20 miles N of Miami.  Its NOT a hockey town.  The Dolphins have had a tough time drawing and now that they suck, good luck.  

 

Yep and as someone else stated we are about to see the first undefeated team fire it's head coach.

[Brewin Flames]

Winning puts asses in seats....

[Buffalo Rick]

2 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Yep and as someone else stated we are about to see the first undefeated team fire it's head coach.

Your kidding?  I never heard about this 

[Samifan]

Here is link of Kyle Beach interview.

 

Coach Q should already be suspended 

 

https://www.tsn.ca/video/it-was-no-longer-my-word-against-everybody-elses~2307782

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Your kidding?  I never heard about this 

 

We'll see but yes he should be fired.

 

What manager/coach who knew about this type of stuff would remain employed because he was concentrating on a Championship?

 

This stuff wouldn't happen with my employer so why should sports be different?

 

How would Q feel if it happened to his daughter?

[NHL HHOF]

 

Panthers to honor victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting

Ceremony, blood drive, moment of silence to be held before Florida's first home game since Feb. 14 attack

https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-to-hold-ceremony-for-victims-of-school-shooting/c-296234986

 

Panthers honor Parkland shooting victims before game at Blues

Wear 'MSD Strong' shirts on 5th anniversary of tragedy to memorialize 17 students, staff members killed

https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-honor-parkland-shooting-victims-before-game-at-st-louis-blues/c-341050496

 

 

 

 

[NHL HHOF]

 

[OccamsRazor]

Sometimes the truth hurts!!!!!

 

 

[NHL HHOF]

Panthers clinch playoff berth with losses by Sabres, Penguins

Return to postseason after winning Presidents' Trophy in 2022

https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-clinch-playoff-berth/c-343420116

[NHL HHOF]

 

[NHL HHOF]

 

How Panthers reached Stanley Cup Final

Tkachuk's energy, dramatics, Bobrovsky's standout play helped spark run

https://www.nhl.com/news/how-florida-reached-stanley-cup-final/c-344585922?tid=287339198

 

The Florida Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 27 years.

 

Florida punched its ticket with a 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday. The Panthers' only previous trip to the Final came in 1996, when they were swept in four games by the Colorado Avalanche.

 

Florida will play the Dallas Stars or the Vegas Golden Knights in the Final. Vegas leads the best-of-7 Western Conference Final 3-1 after Dallas avoided elimination with a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 4 on Thursday.

 

The Panthers' journey to this point has been impressive, if not surprising. In fact, it almost didn't happen.

 

In the final week of the regular season the Panthers' playoff hopes were flagging, and would have taken a bit hit if the Pittsburgh Penguins had beaten the Chicago Blackhawks in Pittsburgh on April 11.

 

Instead, the Penguins lost 5-2 to the Blackhawks and the Panthers clinched the final postseason berth in the East, one point ahead of the Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

 

When the Boston Bruins opened a 3-1 lead in their best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round series against the Panthers, it was expected. Florida squeezed into the playoffs, but Boston set NHL records for the most wins (65) and points (135) in a season.

 

Then everything changed.

 

Since that time, the Panthers have won 11 of 12 games and eliminated the teams that finished No. 1 (Bruins), No. 2 (Hurricanes, 113 points) and No. 4 (Maple Leafs, 111 points) in the NHL standings. They won the final three games against Boston; defeated Toronto in five games in the second round; then swept Carolina for the right to represent the East in the Cup Final.

 

Here are some of the highlights for the Panthers on the road to the Stanley Cup Final.

 

BEST MOMENT: It has to be Matthew Tkachuk's series winner against the Hurricanes with 4.9 seconds remaining in the third period of Game 4 at FLA Live Arena. With the clock clicking down, the forward showed poise and patience in waiting for Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen to go down before flipping the puck into the net.

 

TURNING POINT: The clock appeared to have struck midnight on the Cinderella Panthers when they trailed the Bruins 3-2 late in Game 7 of the first round on April 30. Against a defensively stingy team like Boston, the odds were against Florida. Enter defenseman Brandon Montour, who tied the game with 1:00 remaining in the third to extend the Panthers' season to overtime, when forward Carter Verhaeghe won it at 8:35. Without Montour's goal, there likely would have been no OT, The Bruins most assuredly would have advanced, and we might be talking about them being back in the Final. We aren't, and that's because of Montour.

 

BEST MOVES MADE: The Panthers' offseason moves are paying huge dividends, notably the hiring of coach Paul Maurice and the trade for Tkachuk. Maurice had walked away from his position as coach of the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 17, 2021, and had no aspirations to step back behind a bench until general manager Bill Zito convinced him otherwise during a phone conversation in June. Then on July 22, 2022, the Panthers acquired Tkachuk from the Calgary Flames in a trade for forward Jonathan Huberdeau, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, forward prospect Cole Schwindt and a conditional first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Ten months later, those two have been key in the Panthers reaching the Final.

 

BEST MOVES NOT MADE: Maurice could have benched Sergei Bobrovsky after the goalie allowed five goals in a 6-2 loss to the Bruins in Game 4 of the first round. There was precedent; Alex Lyon had started the final eight games of the regular season, when the Panthers went 6-1-1, and the first three games of the first round. But give Maurice credit for sticking with Bobrovsky. That loss to the Bruins now looks like a distant blip on the radar; Bobrovsky has a .942 save percentage in 12 games since then. Sometimes, the best goalie change is the one you don't make.

 

SIGNATURE WIN (REGULAR SEASON): The Panthers ended a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 overtime victory at the Maple Leafs on March 29. That started a 6-1-1 run to end the season and put them in the right mindset for the playoffs. Forward Sam Reinhart scored the tying goal at 19:00 of the third, then Montour won it at 1:41 of overtime. Had they not come back to win that game, there's a good chance we wouldn't be talking (or writing) about Florida in the Cup Final.

 

SIGNATURE WIN (PLAYOFFS): The Panthers haven't just had their backs against the wall the past two months, they've been holding the thing up. Time after time Florida's never-say-die attitude has been front and center. That never was more evident than in their 3-2 victory in quadruple overtime against the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the conference final, the sixth-longest game in NHL history. Just when it appeared the game was heading to a fifth overtime period, Tkachuk scored the winner 13 seconds remaining. The Panthers are 6-0 in overtime games in this postseason, and no victory was more reflective of their resiliency than that one.

 

MVP: It would be either Tkachuk or Bobrovsky without a doubt. And with apologies to the Stars and the Golden Knights, these two should be the clear frontrunners for the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player of the postseason. Tkachuk is second among all players in the playoffs with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists). His sense of the dramatic has been ridiculous: he scored the overtime goal that eliminated the Bruins in Game 7, then scored three game-winners against the Hurricanes. That's the definition of a difference maker. The same goes for Bobrovsky, who is 11-2 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in 14 playoff games. Florida has been outshot in 12 of its 16 postseason games, but the goalie has given them a chance on most nights. They've made the most of that.

 

BIGGEST SURPRISE: This is an easy one since almost no one saw Bobrovsky's dominant postseason coming. There's a reason Lyon entered the playoffs as the starter; Bobrovsky was 24-20-3 in 49 games during the regular season, and his 3.07 GAA ranked him 27th among the 42 NHL goalies who played at least 30 games. But for Bobrovsky and the Panthers, that must seem like a lifetime ago.

Edited May 26, 2023 by NHL HHOF

[NHL HHOF]

 

Panthers run to Cup Final proves they are 'team of destiny,' Bowman says

Winningest coach in NHL history impressed by Florida's 11-1 record since 1st-round hole

https://www.nhl.com/news/stan-bowman-says-florida-panthers-are-team-of-destiny-in-run-to-stanley-cup-final/c-344586042

 

Scotty Bowman has been watching the Florida Panthers with wide eyes, like the rest of the hockey world, and the winningest coach in NHL history thinks he might have a grip on their stunning run to the Stanley Cup Final.

 

"This is a team of destiny," Bowman said Thursday. "To have been on the brink of elimination in the first round, to have won eight times in a row on the road, to have won six straight games in overtime, to be winning these close games … that shows you something."

 

There's much hockey to be played before the Panthers would take the Stanley Cup for a victory lap, Florida having knocked on the door in 1996, their third season, before being swept in a four-game Final by the Colorado Avalanche.

 

But the Panthers' 11-1 charge since April 26 has been remarkable, even sensational, considering they were the Eastern Conference's second wild card into the playoffs, and the team with the fewest points of any of the 16 postseason qualifiers.

 

The Panthers staved off elimination in three consecutive first-round games against the Boston Bruins, the NHL's best-regular season team. Down 3-1, Florida defeated the Presidents' Trophy winners in overtime in Game 5, won Game 6 back home, then in Boston stunned the Bruins in overtime in Game 7.

 

"We want Florida!" happily chanted fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had eliminated the Tampa Bay Lighting in six games in the first round for Toronto's first series victory since 2004. The playoff road to better things seemed smoother to Leaf Nation, if not the team itself, with rival Boston shockingly eliminated.

 

Well, Florida they got, and along with it a five-game elimination against a team that seemed to draw tremendous energy from its win against Boston.

By now the Panthers were playing with house money, to coin a casino phrase. And then came their sweep of Carolina, dusting the Hurricanes with four one-goal victories, Game 1 ended on Matthew Tkachuk's winner with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth overtime period.

 

The Panthers have won all six of their overtime games this postseason. They could equal or establish the NHL record for consecutive road victories; Florida is two behind the 10 of the 2012 Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings. The Panthers are the fourth team to enter the Stanley Cup Final after winning 11 of its last 12 in a postseason, following the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, Chicago Blackhawks in 1992 and Edmonton Oilers in 1987 and 1983.

 

Three times since the NHL went to a four-round, best-of-7 playoff format in 1986-87 has a team rallied from a 3-1 first-round deficit to push into the second round and ultimately win the Stanley Cup:

 

• The 1989-90 Oilers trailed the Winnipeg Jets before winning three straight, then went on to sweep the Kings, beat the Blackhawks in six games and then the Bruins in a five-game Final.

 

• The 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins faced elimination three times against the Washington Capitals, then defeated the New York Rangers in six games and swept first the Bruins, then the Blackhawks to win the Cup.

 

• The 2013-14 Kings clawed back from down 3-1 in the first round against the San Jose Sharks to advance, then beat the Anaheim Ducks and Blackhawks in seven games each before their five-game victory against the Rangers in the Final.

 

Bowman coached the 1991-92 Penguins and, a decade later, the 2001-02 Red Wings, two of his NHL-record nine Stanley Cup champions.

 

The Penguins opened with two losses in Washington, won Game 3 at home, then were swamped 7-2 in Game 4, setting the stage for three straight wins, Games 5 and 7 on the road.

 

The Red Wings dropped the first two at home to the Canucks, then won four straight, three of them in Vancouver.

 

But Bowman sees no comparison to either of those champions, or any other team for that matter, when he considers the Panthers.

 

"It's hard to fathom, all the road games they're winning, to be so close to elimination in the first round," he said.

 

The tremendous work of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, Bowman says, has the Panthers playing fearless hockey. Since skating into the Florida net late in the third period of Game 3 against the Bruins, in relief of Alex Lyon, Bobrovsky has been brilliant: 11-2 with a 2.21 goals-against average, .935 save percentage and one shutout.

 

"Florida isn't wondering, 'How do we protect the goalie?' because he's been protecting them," Bowman said. "Bobrovsky won the Vezina Trophy twice with Columbus (2013, 2017), but he's had his struggles since signing with Panthers (in 2019). But he's in such a zone now. The players must have so much confidence just for what he's done for himself."

 

Nine of the Panthers' 12 victories have been by a single goal, another illustration of the ice water in Bobrovsky's veins.

 

"When Carolina tied the game (Wednesday) with about three and a half minutes to play, I thought, 'My goodness, they're going to live to see another day,'" Bowman said. "And then, bang, the Panthers scored the winner with less than five seconds to play. Destiny is the only word that comes to mind."

[NHL HHOF]

 

[NHL HHOF]

 

[NHL HHOF]