The Florida Panthers can’t seem to catch a break. Just when it looks like they finally have all the pieces to at least be competitive in the playoff hunt, they lose three of their top forwards for significant periods of time this year, and just like that, another season down the drain in sunny Florida. Plenty to build on, but it’s been over a decade now since they’ve been in the playoffs, and they haven’t won a playoff game since 1998.
Offense: D-
Stephen Weiss was the only one of Florida’s top 3 forwards to stay healthy all year, and led the team with 28 goals and 60 points. Nathan Horton scored at nearly a point per game pace, but appeared in just 65 games, while David Booth suffered two concussions and played only 28 games. Michael Frolik was a pleasant surprise, breaking the 20 goal plateau for the first time. The Panthers have been a defense-first team, but are painfully lacking in depth up front, so the losses of Booth and Horton for extended periods of time, coupled with the fact that Cory Stillman played only 58 games, were especially damaging.
Defense: C- For a defensively-minded team, the Panthers sure gave up a lot of goals this year. The Panthers’ defense ranked 20th in goals against, and with the departure of Jordan Leopold and Dennis Seidenberg at the deadline, their blueline just got even thinner. Captain Bryan McCabe had a pretty decent year, scoring 43 points and leading the team with over 23 minutes of ice time a season. Dmitry Kulikov showed he could handle the burden of a full NHL season and also showed some ability on the powerplay, with 10 of his 16 points coming with the man advantage.
Goaltending: A Tomas Vokoun’s 2.55 GAA may not scream “star goalie” to the casual observer, but that number’s more of an indication of the poor team playing in front of him than his play. Vokoun saw the 3rd most shots in the league, despite playing in only 63 games and had a save percentage of .925 along with 7 shutouts. Scott Clemmensen finished the season strong, as well.
Special Teams: D- The only team with a worse powerplay than Florida was Toronto. Their penalty kill was ranked 24th in the league. Not much discussion needed to explain those numbers. Missing your top offensive players isn’t going to help your powerplay, and the team’s poor defensive play at even strength obviously carried over to the kill.