Back in the Fight!
2020-09-14Defending a championship is not an easy accomplishment in the MRFHL, in fact to quote Drake, no team has gone “back to back” in the history of the league. So after the Panthers hoisted the cup in the summer of 2019, many began to wonder if the team from the Sunshine State would be able to do it all again.
Twelve months later looking back on it, questions have been raised as to how a title defence could end in such a disaster - a season in which the team not only lost out on the cup, but failed to even qualify for the post-season. In examining the season, maybe this was the outcome we should have expected, that a team that pushed all of its chips in last summer were in no shape to contend once again. The team had to move on from a plethora of pending free agents, focusing their attention on re-signing captain Sidney Crosby. That meant that #2 centre Anze Kopitar, starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and star goal scorer Alex Ovechkin were sent packing. An exodus of talent that even included depth players like Bonino, Zetterberg and Seidenberg - the 2019-20 Panthers went into the season with a massive amount of turnover.
It became quite clear as the season progressed that the new group wasn’t meshing as well as hoped. David Rittich 
couldn’t handle the starting net as well as the team hoped, new veteran additions (Dubinsky, Komarov, Brodziak) failed to provide in the bottom 6. Dylan Strome and Nazem Kadri split time filling the 2nd line centre role admirably, but neither were Anze Kopitar. And so the changes continued on during the season. One of the longest tenured Panthers, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was sent in a deal that brought back Roman Josi. Nazem Kadri’s short tenure ended in a deal with Philadelphia. Jaden Schwartz’s tenure was even shorter being dealt to Calgary. P.K. Subban was sent to Minnesota as the team prepared to walk away from the former Norris winner as he prepared to enter the summer as a free agent.
“We learned early on that this team wasn’t going to be a contender, and that’s a failure when you have only a select number of years left with Sid playing the way he is. We quickly shifted our focus to the next season, trying to acquire talent that could put us in a position to succeed the following season - clearing out money and opening up spots that we intended to fill.”
With the off-season nearing its end, the Panthers have completely remodelled their offence. It started early in the 
summer as they acquired pending free agent Evander Kane from the Edmonton Oilers. The building continued as the Panthers traded for FIVE additional wingers over the summer; Jakob Silfverberg, Charlie Coyle, Nikita Gusev, Marcus Foligno and Colton Sceviour. But the big bombshell came at the end, with players starting to get ready to head to training camp - the Panthers filled the vacated second line centre spot left by Anze Kopitar, picking up Patrice Bergeron from the San Jose Sharks. Now the Panthers are hoping that they will see the same success that Crosby and Bergeron have experienced in the past together playing for Canada (2 Olympic Gold’s, World Junior Gold, World Cup of Hockey Gold) this season with the Panthers. The big question mark heading into the season is once again whether an inexperienced starter can handle the workload, as they acquired Phillip Grubauer from the Dallas Stars. The safety net there is tenuous at best, with 40 year old Ryan Miller serving as the backup this season.
In such a wild turnaround from that spring of 2019, only six players remain from the ‘19 champions (Crosby, Heinen, Marchessault, Nichushkin, Slavin, Theodore) and once again we see if the Panthers can get a bunch of new faces to gel together, or will it end in disaster for a second straight season?
2020 Draft Review:
7th Overall: Lucas Raymond, RW - Coming off a disappointing season in the SHL, Lucas is still slated as one of thetop prospects in the 2020 Draft - so much so, the Panthers were shocked when he was still at their selection at seven. An incredible playmaker off the wing, showing incredible vision and poise with the puck, and has the ability to beat anyone 1 on 1. The Panthers expect him to spend another season in the SHL before coming over.
28th Overall: Jeremie Poirier, D - Jeremie is an incredibly divisive prospect amongst scouts. Amongst defenseman, he may be the most offensively gifted amongst the entire class. But it’s his prospects in his own end that leave many questioning as to why he didn’t try and play as a winger. He’s quick on the ice and shows all the confidence in the world when the puck is on his stick, but that can lead to turnovers. “This is truly trying to hit a home-run pick for us. There are things you can teach a player and there’s things you can’t, Jeremie has a lot more of the latter and we hope that he can learn to improve his deficiencies.”
56th Overall: Emil Andrae, D - Like the first two picks, Emil shows a lot of the same qualities as Lucas and Jeremie. He’s incredibly talented with the puck and his vision on the ice is top of the line and unlike Jeremie, he’s also solid in his own end being able to close off plays and does well at separating the opposition from the puck. The big hindrance for Emil is unfortunately size, as he is currently 5’9, he’s not the tallest of the bunch. But as the game continues to evolve and smaller players continue to make an impact at the pro levels, there’s very little concern in that regard for the Panthers brass.
92nd Overall: Emilio Pettersen, C - Emilio’s rise up the ranks can be attributed to the strides he’s made in his skating. His ability to work around the ice and evade defenders has been eye opening for a lot of scouts. His playmaking ability is very creative and his ability to work around the ice and find the open guy is what makes him such an exciting prospect.
97th Overall: Mikhail Abramov, C - Another pick and another guy who can read the game very well. Mikhail is smart on the ice and his vision to create plays, whether it’s in eventually passing the puck or using his powerful shot, makes him a dangerous player in the offensive zone. What could end up holding Mikhail back is his skating is not at a pro level yet, but if he can improve that aspect he can be very dangerous.
100th Overall: Declan Chisholm, D - A bit of a later bloomer, Declan’s ability to drive offence from the blueline really shone this season, but even with that he has the skill set to be a really solid player in the MRFHL. He doesn’t have the potential to be a game breaker like Jeremie could, but he’s smart and plays at both ends of the ice with confidence. What had Declan move up the Panthers draft boards was his leaps in improvement year to year after being passed over in the MRFHL the past two drafts.
109th Overall: Pavel Gogolev, LW - Pavel has been passed up the last two drafts, but he was always somewhere on the Panthers list - sometimes very close to being picked before going with another option. Pavel has an elite shot in his arsenal and it’s a tool that he was finally able to fully unleash this season in the OHL. While there may be some holes in his game, it’s not hard to envision Pavel being an elite member of a well oiled Power Play group in the pros. “Pavel has been bounced around before from bad teams to dealing with injuries throughout his time in the OHL and so it was finally nice to see him get a solid run in one season and he more than earned his movement upwards on our draft board.”
127th Overall: Amir Miftahkov, G - In a similar case to Pavel, Amir is entering his third year of draft eligibility and he also was very much on the cusp of being selected by the Panthers in previous seasons. In an age of 6’5+ goaltenders, it’s an uphill battle for Amir. The six foot goalie is the smallest of the Panthers prospects, but he just has an inherent ability to get to and stop the puck. Consistency will be key going forward, as well as trying to make himself as big as he possibly can in the net.
134th Overall: Anton Johannesson, D - A teammate of early pick Emil Andrae, Anton at time’s has outperformed 
his countrymate but injuries really hurt his draft stock this season. An excellent skater and supremely talented with the puck, Anton is the definition of a puck moving defenceman. Like Emil, he is a bit on the diminutive size standing at 5’9 - but the big difference between the two is that Emil has the extra strength on him, with about 30lbs separating the two Swedish defensemen. There’s more than a few years separating Anton between now and a potential MRFHL debut, so he has time to add a bit more muscle before reaching the big stage.
Excellent read. Very well done
Back in the Fight!
The Florida Panthers are back and looking to claim their 3rd MRFHL Championship