NHL Preview - Florida Panthers

Florida Panthers

2015-16 season: 47-26-9, 103 points,  Lost in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals	Head Coach: Gerard Gallant (2014)
1st Place Atlantic Division	General Manager: Tom Rowe (2016)
3rd Place Eastern Conference	AHL Affiliate: Springfield Thunderbirds ECHL Affiliate:
Cap Space: $9,216,668

Team News

• Promoted Tom Rowe to GM from same position of the Panthers' AHL affiliate, Portland/Springfield; moved incumbent GM Dale Tallon to Hockey Executive position.
• Acquired defenseman Mark Pysyk and two draft picks from Buffalo for defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and a draft pick.
• Acquired forward Jared McCann and two draft picks from Vancouver in exchange for defenseman Erik Gudbranson and a draft pick.
• Traded winger Lawson Crouse and center Dave Bolland to Arizona for two draft picks.
• Traded Marc Savard's contract and a 2018 2nd RD pick to New Jersey for Graham Black and Paul Thompson.

Free Agents Lost in the Offseason

POS.	Player	New Team	Contract
RW	Jiri Hudler	Dallas Stars	1 year, $2,000,000
LW	Teddy Purcell	Los Angeles Kings	1 year, $1,600,000
LW	Quinton Howden	Winnipeg Jets	1 year, $650,000
LW	Garrett Wilson	Pittsburgh Penguins	1 year, $575,000
D	Brian Campbell	Chicago Blackhawks	1 year, $2,225,000
D	Willie Mitchell	Free Agency
G	Al Montoya	Montreal	1 year, $950,000

Incoming Free Agents

POS.	Player	Old Team	Contract
LW	Jonathan Marchessault	Tampa Bay Lightning	2 years, $1,500,000
RW	Colton Sceviour	Dallas Stars	2 years, $1,900,000
D	Jason Demers	Dallas Stars	5 years, $22,500,000
G	James Reimer	San Jose Sharks	5 years, $17,000,000

2016 Draft Picks

RD	Pick No.	POS.	Name	Junior/College/Club Team
1	23	C	Henrik Borgstrom	HIFK Jrs (Finland)
2	38	LW	Adam Mascherin	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
3	89	D	Linus Nessen	Lulea HF (Sweden)
4	94	C	Jonathan Ang	Peterborough Petes (OHL)
4	114	D	Riley Stillman	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
6	175	F	Maxim Mamin	CSKA Moscow (KHL)
7	195	D	Benjamin Finkelstein	Kimball Union (H.S.)

Top Three Prospects

POS	Name	Draft Info	Current Team
G	Samuel Montembeault	2015 3rd RD (77)	Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL)
RW	Logan Shaw	2011 3rd RD (76)	NHL/AHL
C	Connor Brickley	2010 2nd RD (50)	AHL/ECHL

Projected Lineup

Forwards

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	Jonathan Huberdeau	23	Canada	2017 (RFA)
C	Alexsander Barkov	21	Finland	2022
RW	Jaromir Jagr	44	Czech Republic	2017
LW	Jussi Jokinen	33	Finland	2018
C	Nick Bjustad	24	USA	2021
RW	Riley Smith	25	Canada	2022
LW	Jonathan Marchessault	25	Canada	2018
C	Vincent Trocheck	23	USA	2022
RW	Colton Scevior	27	Canada	2018
LW	Jared McCann	20	Canada	2018 (RFA)
C	Derek MacKenzie	35	Canada	2019
RW	Shawn Thornton	39	Canada	2017

Defensemen

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
D	Keith Yandle	30	USA	2023
D	Aaron Eckblad	20	Canada	2025 (RFA)
D	Alex Petrovic	24	Canada	2017 (RFA)
D	Jason Demers	28	Canada	2021
D	Jakub Kindl	29	Czech Republic	2017
D	Mark Pysyk	24	Canada	2017 (RFA)

Goalies

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
G	Roberto Luongo	37	Canada	2022
G	James Reimer	28	Canada	2021

Extra Skaters

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
RW	Logan Shaw	23	Canada	2017 (RFA)
C	Greg McKegg	24	Canada	2017
D	Steven Kampfer	27	USA	2017

Season Outlook

• Last year, Florida certainly surprised some in the hockey community by coming out and winning the Atlantic Division.  This was definitely no accident, as the Panthers have been trending upward for several seasons now.  Last year's team was led by a variety of guys, both old and young.  Their analytics show that the Panthers were a mixed bag, however.  They were great at both scoring and stopping goals.  Yet, their special teams were horrible, ranking in the bottom ten in the league in both power play and penalty kill percentage.  They were bad at attempting shots and putting them on net, but great at suppressing shots.  In general, they were pretty good at at possessing the puck during five-on-five situations.  Looking at these numbers, it seems unlikely that the Panthers made the playoffs last season, yet they went above and beyond this level.

CAT.	Goals For	Goals Against	PP %	PK %	PDO	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi For %	oZS%	dZS%
Stat	239	203	16.91	79.48	101.4	4101	4253	49.1	49.2	50.8
Panthers’ Rank	6th	6th	24th	25th	2nd	29th	5th	19th	25th	25th

PDO= Even Strength Shooting Percentage + Even Strength Save Percentage

Corsi For= Shots + Blocks + Misses while in possession of puck

Crosi Against= Shots + Blocks + Misses while not in possession of puck

Corsi For %= Corsi For/(Corsi For+Corsi Against) -> Above 50% means that team controls play

oZS% = Offensive Zone Start Percentage

dZS% = Defensive Zone Start Percentage

• This coming season, the Panthers will look to capitalize on their advancements last season. They underwent a front office change this offseason by promoting Tim Rowe to the position of General Manager from their AHL affiliate and moved former GM Dale Tallon to a Hockey Executive position.  Their front office went on a movement spree by acquiring defenseman Keith Yandle's rights and then signing him to a seven-year contract, signing defenseman Jason Demers to a five-year deal, and signed goalie James Reimer to a five-year deal to help take some of the workload off veteran Roberto Luongo.  They also traded for defenseman Mark Pysyk from Buffalo and acquired winger Jared McCann from Vancouver.  All of their acquisitions were signed to lengthy contracts and will be on their roster for years to come.  The biggest moves Florida made, though, occurred with players already on their roster.  They signed Jonathan Huberdeau to a six-year extension, Reilly Smith to a five-year extension, Vincent Trocheck to a six-year extension and extended defenseman Aaron Eckblad to an eight-year extension.  This means that the entirety of their young core is locked down to contracts for at least the next six years and they have their goaltenders signed through at least 2021.  With all of these players signed for the foreseeable future, it means that if the salary cap goes up, as it is expected to, the Panthers will have more money to spend on complimentary players to help this young core.  This year, I think Florida will continue to get better and be very good and will compete for the division title again and advance in the playoffs.

Breakout Candidate:

• LW Jonathan Huberdeau - fresh off signing a six-year extension and a season where he scored a career-high 20 goals, Huberdeau will look to take another step forward towards being an elite goalscorer in the NHL.  Skating on Alexsander Barkov's line and opposite of Jaromir Jagr, Huberdeau should certainly see plenty of opportunities to score this season.
• C Jared McCann - McCann came to Florida from Vancouver via trade and brings with him lots of potential.  Last year was his first season at the NHL level and he dressed for 69 games, scoring 18 points.  This is pretty common of rookies in their first season and the transition to Florida could be a great move for McCann's career.  I see him making a big leap this season.

Regression Candidate:

• RW Jaromir Jagr (easy candidate due to age)
• G Roberto Luongo - Luongo is entering his age-37 season and one has to question when his age and amount of playing time will begin to catch up to him.  He may not be ready to go when the season starts due to injury so his durability could be in question.  The Panthers' signing James Reimer to spell Luongo could help take some of the wear off him and help him survive the season and keep him fresh for the playoffs.

Bounceback Candidate:

• I don't have a bounceback candidate for Florida.  They didn't have anyone really take a step back last season and therefore there's no one to come back from a regression.

*All statistics and information come from: rosterresource.com, thehockeywriters.com, hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and generalfanager.com