With training camp in full swing, the Panthers are gearing up for an excellent 2015-16 outing. Let’s take a look at what could be in store for the cats next season:

I. The 2014-15 Season

For those of you who forgot or just jumped on the Panther party bus, the Panthers had a much improved outing in 2014-15. They finished with a 38-29-15 record, good enough for 10th place of 16 teams in the east. Their 91 points, while not enough to make the playoffs, was enough to bolster a 25 point improvement from their campaign a year early in which they were a cellar dweller team finishing 29th/30 in the league. Some notable events include:

The coming out parties for young guns Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Huberdeau, who were both in the top 3 on the team in points at ages 22 and 21 respectively. Huberdeau led the team with 54 points in 79 games while Bjugstad trailed with 43 points in 72 games while also playing with an debilitating back injury

Aaron Ekblad had a record breaking rookie-season. The first overall pick and Calder Trophy winner set Panthers records for point by a rookie defenseman and had one of the most successful seasons ever by an 18 year old defenseman playing for any team. His future is bright, and hopefully his future is in Florida.

Speaking of Aaron Ekblad, he and Roberto Luongo represented the Panthers at the 2015 NHL All Star Game in Columbus. Roberto Luongo had a disgusting save in the skills competition, and Aaron Ekblad had 4 assists in what turned out to be the highest scoring all star game ever. Ekblad was even told to tone it down at the game:

“I was sitting on the bench getting the shakes a little bit,” Ekblad said. “I was trying not to try too hard. That’s kind of like the thing to do almost. It is hard to do. I got chirped a little bit for trying too hard.” (source)

Seriously, look at this save!

II. Offseason Summary

The Panthers had a relatively quiet offseason. Besides adding some AHL depth in free agency, the Panthers were nearly silent. General Manager Dale Tallon did not tender offers to UFAs Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky in favor of making the team younger. He was quoted as saying:

like young teams, I like young players. We have some good young players in our system and we’re going to give them an opportunity. I think that’s the direction we need to go in. My goal is to have 20 guys on our team that are all drafts of ours. I don’t think that can happen, but that’s the goal. (source)

Additionally the Panthers bought out the contract of forward Brad Boyes. The 33 year old winger was bought by the Panthers in accordance with Tallon’s free agency strategy: get younger.

Contrary to the quiet free agency, the big piece of news about the offseason was Jonathan Huberdeau’s contract situation. The Calder Trophy winning forward reached the end of his entry level deal after the 2014-15 season ended, and needed a new contract. However Huberdeau and his agent Allan Walsh had trouble reaching an agreement with the Panthers Management regarding a new contract, and Huberdeau was schedule to become a holdout the second the clock hit 7:30AM on September 17, 2015. His name was not included on the Panthers training camp roster (which you can find here). However, Huberdeau wound up signing a 2-year deal the morning of camp, and will join training camp on Friday the 18th.

III. Training Camp

The training camp preview exists as an entirely separate article which can be found here for your reading pleasure. The article details who I think will challenge for spots in camp this year.

For details about the training camp itself and who will be attending please refer to my article containing the schedule and roster here.

IV. Season Predictions

This part is hard, and is very subjective. There is way too much that goes into the NHL season that determines who will finish ahead of whom. This list is almost 100% speculative, but fun anyways. It’s also biased towards the Panthers because….well…this is a Panther blog. Also, I’m not going to include individual statlines because they are much too hard to predict, and all the speculation and analysis would turn this post into a small novel. If there is demand for this I will do it, however.

Atlantic Division:

Tampa Bay Lightning – They reached the Stanley Cup Finals and lost valiantly to the Hawks in the final. The only non valiant part was this and perhaps this. They are a team on the rise and will be even better this year. Detroit Red Wings – Picking Tampa to win the division was easy, but this part isn’t. I think that Detroit will finally be healthy enough to have the strong season their team probably should. They’re a perennial playoff team, but always seem to make an early exit. Maybe this year they will last long enough to make a cup run. Montreal Canadiens – Montreal is a fine squad and they had some nice pickups this off-season. Unfortunately for the Canadiens, I don’t see Carey Price having the absolutely insane season he had last year, and I don’t think the team improved enough this offseason to make-up for the dip Carey Price’s numbers will probably take. Florida Panthers – See where the bias comes in? Florida is a real wild card team this year. They lost a lot of close OT games and 1 goal regulation games last season, and a few more of those could really turn things around in sunrise. The team is more or less the same on the back end, but a full season of the Young, Younger, Jagr line as well as a more youthful forward corps could vitalize an otherwise stagnant Panthers offense. I have the cats battling hard and eking out a 4th place finish. Ottawa Senators – Ottawa is in a similar position to Florida. They are a young and talented team with solid defense and goaltending, but a problem putting the puck in the net. I don’t think Ottawa can pull off more Hamburglar madness this year, and I don’t think they will be much better than they were last year. I predict a 5th place finish. Boston Bruins – Boston has basically fallen apart in the past few months. Chara’s performance fell precipitously, and the team traded Soderberg, Hamilton, Lucic, and Smith (thank you.) This team won’t be god awful, but they will definitely be mediocre. They have strong goaltending, and they will need Tuukka Rask to win some games singlehandedly if they want to seriously contend in the division. Buffalo Sabres – Jack Eichel will not single handedly save the Sabres in one season. They will still be bad, and the rebuild will continue. They will not have as terrible a season as they did last year because such a thing is almost unheard of, but things will still be pretty bad. Toronto Maple Leafs – This is partly out of me not liking Toronto and partly me thinking this team is just plain ol’ bad. Toronto traded Kessel and started it’s rebuilding process by starting to horde prospects and draft picks as is customary. They are in deep doo-doo, and while they may be good in the future they will not

To Playoffs or Not to Playoffs?

Will the Panthers make the playoffs? Again, I am going to lean on my fandom bias and say YES! The team has a real shot to be the best wild-card team in the Atlantic, but the Metropolitan is stacked this year. The Penguins, Islanders, Capitals, Rangers, and Blue Jackets will all challenge for spots in the division this year. Hopefully those teams beat each other into a pulp so thoroughly as to allow the Panthers to earn a playoff spot. The Panthers could also try beating out one of those teams and stealing a wild-card spot themselves.

Or they could shock the world and finish in the top-3 in the Atlantic, but don’t count on it.

Disagree with me? Have something you want me to cover? Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you!