Clawing Towards the Finish Line

“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? “

That question was what the Panthers brass thought the season would hinge on, and while the current group has played well the 2020-21 season has been on the brink of disaster at many points and will still most likely end up in disappointment as we head into the final few weeks of the season. But how did we get here? 

The Panthers made wholesale changes after a disappointing 2019-20 season, remodelling their entire forward core and bringing in an all new cast in net. The changes on the surface have seemingly gone well; Patrice Bergeron has given them an elite centre to place on their second line, Evander Kane has provided the scoring and grit they desired for the top 6, and Grubauer has provided them with an opportunity to be in every game that he starts. But therein lies the problem. 

The Panthers stormed out of the gate with an 8-2-2 record through the first three weeks in the season, including big wins against all the teams they’ve been chasing after this hot start (Tampa, Montreal, Buffalo, Boston, Toronto). In a 1-1 game early in the 3rd period against the Buffalo Sabres, Grubauer skated off with what appeared to be a minor foot injury. As the Panthers would go on to secure a 3-2 OT win, the news coach Mike Sullivan received would be devastating, Grubauer would miss the next two months. A few weeks later as they controlled the skid with a 3-2-1 record, Ryan Miller would also leave a game with an injury that would sideline him for a few weeks. The Panthers would have to turn to the inexperienced tandem of Cal Petersen and Cayden Primeau, and the results were inadequate to put it kindly. 

With the playoffs falling out of view the Panthers began to redirect their attention to the future and next year. They moved out recent acquisition Jakob Silfverberg to the Lightning in exchange for Nick Foligno (the Panthers also acquired younger brother Marcus in the summer) and a pair of exciting 2020 draft prospects in Calle Clang and Ridly Greig. While the move may have taken for the team selling, Nick has found chemistry with Crosby on the top line with 25 points in 28 games, a much higher rate than he was putting up with the Lightning. 

The next two moves saw the team send out a pair of pending free agents in Roman Josi and Ryan Miller. Roman Josi was sent to the Jets for a handful of future assets including a 1st round pick and Thomas Bordeleau, while they picked up a pick from Montreal for Ryan Miller. “I think once we got back Gruby, we knew that the only way we were going to push towards a playoff spot was on his back. There’s no safeguards behind him now and that was by design. Roman we loved but with expansion coming up and knowing our odds of making a run this year were limited, we felt it was best to try and recoup some assets from a player of that quality. We didn’t want to write off the season though, so that’s why we made sure we found a deal to shore up our D on the heels of that trade by bringing in Braun and Bogosian.” 

WIth a new look group and a healthy Grubauer the team started to get on a little bit of a roll, and as the deadline approached the Panthers continued to make moves with a focus on not only next year, but trying to stay in the 2021 playoff race. They picked up pending UFA Mikael Granlund and veteran Mikael Backlund in separate trades. Both adding to the depth of the team. And as the hours ticked away closer to the deadline, Florida had made it known that they were shopping Dylan Strome for a winger and had finally found a dance partner with the Anaheim Ducks and picked up Conor Garland, a winger they’ve long sought after. 

And where do we sit now? Since the Josi trade the Panthers are 11-6-1, not an explosive rate to push themselves in contention and with about 2 ½ weeks left in the season the Panthers are not out of it and are still in a long chase after one of those last wildcard spots. Both the Leafs and Panthers are 5 and 7 points out from both the Red Wings and Sabres respectively, with 3 games in hand on each. Is there a realistic chance either team could usurp those spots? Well the Red Wings have a noted track record of missing the playoffs and choked in their first and only playoff berth in recent memory. While the Sabres may have some stability after years of flawed management, it is still Buffalo and nothing good happens in Buffalo sports. "If we had to be chasing any teams, these would be the ones we would want."