Panthers in Limbo

2019-12-05

At the quarter mark of the season the Florida Panthers are in the position of doubt, are they good enough to make another run or should the transition to a full rebuild? As it stands now, GM Dylan Wilson has decided to dip his toes in to both pools. The team that won the cup less than 6 months ago are now radically different, yet with some of the same core parts still leading the charge.

It all happened very quickly. The Panthers potent power-play capitalized on not only one Leon Draisaitl penalty, but two from the former Panther. In a matter of two minutes on a warm sunny day in Winnipeg, the Panthers swung the game from looking at a potential game 6 to Sidney Crosby lifting his second cup of the decade. Anze Kopitar, who played the most minutes amongst forwards and a pending UFA found himself dealt to the Los Angeles Kings a day later. Another pending UFA Sergei Bobrovsky, the Vezina and Conn Smythe winner, was a dealt out west as well as the dismantling continued. The last big domino to fall was the legend himself Alexander Ovechkin, who after four years in Sunshine was dealt to the state rival Tampa Bay Lightning. With the dust settled the sunshine cats were looking at seven new faces as they started their attempt at a repeat.

And then the season started.

With a chorus of new faces in the lineup, the year began with a solid win against division rivals the Boston Bruins as the young newcomers like Brock McGinn and Dylan Strome made an immediate impact, David Rittich providing a solid night of work as he worked to be the unlikely successor to Bobrovsky.

And then the wheels fell off.

They spiralled to a 5 game losing streak, conceding 22 goals over those games as the team desperately searched for any chemistry they could. While the course has seemed to correct itself slightly, a playoff appearance that was banked on the last few years seemed to be placed in to more doubt. In an ambitious move, they sent long time defender Oliver Ekman-Larsson in a deal to the Los Angeles Kings for Roman Josi and Jaden Schwartz. OEL who was acquired back in 2011 had been a cornerstone of the franchise, outlasting even fan favourite Alex Pietrangelo.

“It was incredibly hard to move out Ek. He won two cups here and was a pivotal part of this team and the way we wanted to play. He’s going to be missed and hopefully he’ll stay out west. Zach was another guy that we brought in as a rookie and was a key contributor throughout the season last year as we moved towards winning another cup. Getting Roman and Jaden is definitely a move to make us better now and we hope that the fit they bring will help accelerate our season.”

The Panthers also made another move bringing in Jesse Puljujarvi from the Montreal Canadiens in a bit of a high risk move as Jesse’s North American future is a bit cloudy at the moment.

It’s five games in to the new Roman Josi era in Florida and it’s been a decent 3-2 run (Jaden Schwartz picked up an injury early in his tenure with Florida, missing a few games). Sidney Crosby continues to be his dominant self, while Dylan Strome has been a solid albeit not quite the replacement for Anze Kopitar on the second line, and while the team is only two points out of a playoff spot in the East, Dylan continues to weigh the options of how to go forwards. “We’ve been taking calls on Faulk, Subban and Kadri but nothing has really made sense for the immediate or future of the team. And like we always are, we’re close to the cap and that makes it tricky and we’d have to be creative to add to this team. So we’ll see how this team gels over the next few weeks and see which direction we want to go.”

Maybe the best test for the Panthers is coming up over the next week as they play two teams over the next four, the Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins, two teams that are basically in a similar spot of being in the hunt but could realistically swing in either direction.

Around the League: One surprising little tidbit is the Detroit Red Wings who are leading the Daigle division. The Wings are currently the holders of the longest playoff drought in the MRFHL, having last made the playoffs back in 2012 when they were swept by the Kings - Yes, the Wings have not made the playoffs since they were in the Western Conference.

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