As I sat down to write this last “On the Bench” before I graduate, I struggled to think of an idea. That’s when it hit me: the Florida Panthers.
Ah, the Panthers. Two Aprils ago, I was at the BB&T Center when they beat the New Jersey Devils in Game 2 of the 2012 playoffs. Stephen Weiss had scored less than 30 seconds in, and the red-clad crowd was electric throughout as they came away with their first playoff win in over a decade.
While they ended up losing that series in double overtime of Game 7, it seemed like a sign of things to come. New general manager Dale Tallon had brought in a host of faces new and old, from first-time NHL coach Kevin Dineen to Ed Jovanovski, who was a rookie on the Panthers’ Stanley Cup Finals squad in 1996. There were also a number of players from Tallon’s old Chicago Blackhawks squads, including forwards Kris Versteeg and Tomas Kopecky and defenseman Brian Campbell. Tallon also helped bring back red as the team’s primary jersey color and thus led to fans bringing the plastic rats of 1996 back into “fashion.”
A first division title in franchise history seemed merely a stepping stone for continued hockey success in South Florida. But when the lockout hit the NHL in September 2012, any hope for momentum was quickly stalled.
Once the season finally got underway the following January, the Panthers were quickly demolished by injuries.
The 48-game schedule saw the Cats lose 271 “man-games” to injury—that is, Panthers players combined to miss 271 games. Over such a short season, that’s a lot, especially when you consider only three teams topped that number in the 2013-2014 season, a full 82-game schedule. This included a number of key players missing a lot of time, such as Weiss playing 17 games, Versteeg only 10 and Jovanovski just six.
On the bright side, we got to see the emergence of Jonathan Huberdeau, the third overall selection in the 2011 draft who burst onto the scene en route to winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. If nothing else, we knew we had a legitimate star in the making. Plus, the Panthers’ terrible season netted them the second pick in last summer’s draft, which turned into Aleksander Barkov, a dynamic center from Finland.
This summer, it almost felt as if the short season was just a wash. The lockout scrambled schedules and forced teams to miss a lot of necessary preparation time. Combined with all the injuries they suffered, a down season was almost expected, though it was certainly worse than they might have liked. A full offseason of preparation should have got the Panthers back on track.
Unfortunately, that didn’t quite pan out.
Stephen Weiss was lost to free agency, signing with the Detroit Red Wings. This was to be expected, as the Panthers were certainly not going to pay him the nearly $5 million per year he got from the Wings. Still, it was tough to see Weiss, playoff hero and franchise leader in games played and assists, walk away from the team after more than a decade. The Panthers did bring in veteran goalie Tim Thomas, Stanley Cup winner with Boston in 2010, to bring a big dose of experience as well as some skill the team lacked between the pipes.
A terrible start to the season saw coach Kevin Dineen fired five weeks into the season, replaced by Peter Horachek, who was coaching the Panthers’ minor-league affiliate in San Antonio. Versteeg was also shipped back to Chicago a week later, and it somehow looked like a lost season.
Then, suddenly, it all changed. Eight wins in December, including a stretch of seven wins from eight games, was followed by six in January, putting the Panthers somewhat back in the thick of the race. The Olympic break, however, shut down the positive roll as both Barkov—who for a while looked like giving the Panthers their second straight Calder winner—and Kopecky suffered season-ending injuries while featuring their countries in Sochi. Just seven wins came from the season’s final 21 games. Veteran mainstays Mike Weaver and Marcel Goc were also traded near the deadline, as was Thomas. But hey, at least we got Roberto Luongo back, right?
Yes, good old Bobby Lu was shipped back to the team he spent five seasons with early in his career, at the cost of two promising youngsters in goalie Jacob Markstrom and gritty forward Shawn Matthias. Oh, and his contract has him with the team through 2022, when he’ll be 43. Will he last that long? Probably not, but his contract does drop his salary significantly as he ages. So it’s a solid long-term investment.
And that’s basically the synopsis of the Panthers: long-term investment, both on and off the ice.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Panthers’ attendance numbers, or lack thereof. The average attendance this season was listed as just over 14,000, which ranked second-to-last in the NHL. The team’s lack of success over its time in Sunrise, making the playoffs just twice since the move from Miami, has driven that attendance down and thus caused a lack of profit coming in from the team. In fact, the concerts and other events hosted at the BB&T Center have brought Broward County more money than the Panthers.
And yet, the club is asking for a decent chunk of money to help this team get back on its feet. The arena was founded on public money, largely tourism taxes from hotels, and now we’re asking for more of the same. There’s a lot of debt on the stadium which is slowly being chipped away at, and this plea for more funding will certainly help work that out. New owners Vinnie Viola and Doug Cifu are overseeing a lot of change in the organization, including long-time CEO Michael Yormark’s departure, but they’re at least working to keep Sunrise’s team in Sunrise.
On the ice, there’s definitely some room for optimism. Are you a casual fan, and do you look at the Panthers’ roster and wonder, “Who the heck are these guys?” Well, you’re not alone there. The combination of injuries and cost-cutting measures have seen a lot of young faces brought in through trades and the draft, with San Antonio providing a number of our players.
And yet, through all this, we’ve got a number of bright spots. Barkov and Huberdeau have already established themselves as fantastic talents. Nick Bjugstad, a first-round pick in 2010, led the team in points with 38—the first time a rookie’s led the Panthers in points—and showcased a great skillset and hard-working attitude. Recently acquired forward Brandon Pirri looks a solid talent as well, alongside minor-league call-ups like Quinton Howden, Vincent Trocheck and Drew Shore. Plus, we’ve got the first overall pick in this summer’s entry draft.
There’s still plenty of veteran talent around besides Luongo, too. Jovanovski, named captain after the playoff run, has another year left on his contract to help mentor the youngsters on his blue line like Erik Gudbranson and Dylan Olsen. Campbell is a great power-play quarterback, a levelheaded player and another solid influence. Offensive forces like Brad Boyes, Tomas Fleischmann and Scottie Upshall will continue to put up solid numbers as the young guns around them mature.
Coach Horachek has a good amount of work to do, but what he’s done in helping this ragtag group of players slowly come together has been pretty remarkable thus far. There’s a bright future around this franchise coming over the horizon in Sunrise, and it’s worth watching.
