Florida Panthers season preview
After what felt like a Cinderella story type of playoff run, the Florida Panthers are going to have to face some injury adversity to kick off the 2023-24 season. This group was very inconsistent in the regular season last year, but they were able to play their best hockey at the most important time. With that said, the way they battled last year might have a negative impact on them this season, physically speaking.
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Offense
It became clear during the 2023 postseason that Matthew Tkachuk is the heartbeat of this team. Tkachuk has put up back-to-back 100+ point seasons, but his first year in Florida came with new career highs (69 assists, 109 points). The Panthers have other offensive weapons aside from Tkachuk, like Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe. And they added Evan Rodrigues this offseason.
Thanks to these guys, the Panthers were a top-10 offensive team last season, scoring 3.51 goals per game while skating to a 22.8% power play success rate. They finished with the best expected goals per 60 in the NHL (3.76), as well as the most high-danger chances per 60 (15.74).
This is a solid offensive group, but it will be interesting to see how they produce after a short summer.
Defense
The Panthers were not a very strong defensive team in 2023-24, but one of their main objectives this offseason was to strengthen their blue line. They brought in Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola, and Dmitry Kulikov to help round out the back end. In 2022-23, they finished toward the bottom of the league defensively, allowing 3.32 goals against per game and also finishing with a bottom 10 penalty kill (76%).
They were slightly below average defensively last season, and I would say that they should be slightly above average this season, though not exceptional.
Goaltending
Goaltending was one of the biggest storylines of the Panthers’ postseason run, but Sergei Bobrovsky has had plenty of mediocre regular-season performances. The Panthers brought in Anthony Stolarz to back him up, and he is solid, but it all depends on Bobrovsky. If Bobrovsky can carry his performance from the 2023 playoffs into this season, he could be in the Vezina Trophy conversation.
Player To Watch – G Sergei Bobrovsky
The Panthers’ goaltending was an absolute roller coaster last season, but after an immaculate playoff run, the question is if Bobrovsky can sustain his performance from the postseason. Bobrovsky carried this team through the playoffs after coming in to relieve Alex Lyon in round one against the Bruins. His regular season was average, he skated to a .901 save percentage and a 3.07 goals against average, but in the playoffs, he boasted a .915 save percentage along with a 2.78 goals against average and an incredible +16.3 goals saved above expected. Bobrovsky’s play can make or break the Panthers season in 2023-24.
Outlook
Don’t let recency bias fool you. The Panthers will have to deal with a ton of injury adversity to kick off the season with players like Tkachuk, Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad and it will be interesting to see how this team looks physically out of the gate. Considering that they are in a very strong division, I don’t think it’s crazy to say that they will miss the playoffs. DraftKings Sportsbook has them at +180 to miss the playoffs, and I love the value on that. They will certainly compete, but they snuck into the playoffs last year by a singular point, and we could see a similar situation this season.
