Florida Panther Review

Is this the Year they battle for a Playoff spot?

Florida Panthers 2021 / 2022 Outlook

The 2020 / 21 season was another step towards the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.  The Panthers GM believes that the team has built up enough teams depth that the playoffs might not just be a dream anymore but a reality.

Below is an analysis of the team by position.

With the expansion draft around the corner, Panthers management will go with the 8 – 1 protected list, to protect both Bear and Soucy.  That will leave many expensive forwards unprotected.  The gamble is that the expansion team won't want to take on these expensive contracts.

Goalies (Thomas Greiss, Ville Husso, Veini Vehvilainen, Justus Annunen)

Thomas Greiss might not be an all-star but he is solid and can keep the Panthers in games.  However with Greiss going into the last year of his contract the Panthers will need to address the starting goalie position for the future.

There was hope that either Husson and / or Vehvilainen would be ready to take over the # 1 spot when Greiss' contract would comes to an end but it doesn't look like either will be able to do so.

Husso struggled last year and Vehvilainen took a step backwards (and returned to Europe) after showing a promising future in Finland before coming to NA.

However, the long term future looks very promising with Justus Annunen who has been solid since being drafted in the 3^rd round by the Panthers.

Expansion Protected G:          Thomas Greiss

Exposed G:                              Ville Husso, Veini Vehvilainen

Defence (Roman Jossi, Justin Faulk, K'Andre Miller, Ethan Bear, Carson Soucy, Derek Forbort)

This is the best group of defensemen the Panthers have had since the Panthers management took over the team.

Starting with the Free Agent acquisition /trade away / trade for again Roman Josi who is a top 5 D in the world.  Josi will be paired up with Justin Faulk who might have had his best season in the NHL last year.  The Panthers top pair will play in all situations and average 25 minutes per game in the up-coming season.

The best part is that both are signed for 4 more years!

The Panthers 2^nd pairing of Ethan Bear and rookie K-Andre Miller looks very promising.  K'Andre the Giant was the Panthers GM first draft pick, he was the player targeted when the team traded up and he hasn't disappointed since being drafted.

Adding Bear gives the Panthers the solid top 4 the Panthers GM has been trying to put together since he took over the team.

Soucy and Forbort are a huge and physical bottom pair that will be used to shut down other teams power forwards, this shows how much the Panthers have improved their depth over the last year.

This depth will allow the Panthers to deal with injuries and still be have a chance to win, which is something they didn't have before.

Expansion Protected D:           Roman Jossi, Justin Faulk, Ethan Bear, Carson Soucy

Exposed D:                               Derek Forbort, B. Rafferty, A. Biega,

Forwards (Matt Duchesne, James Van Riemsdyk, Victor Olofsson, Andreas Johnsson, Mattias Janmark, Ilya Mikheyev, Carl Grundstrom, Alexander Barabanov, Patrick Hornquist, Shane Pinto, Christian Fischer, Frans Nielsen)

This is where the Panthers continue to struggle to add top line forwards. But the overall depth is the best its been in a long time. 

There are many questions that will be answered this year:

–    Will Duchesne rebound from an injury riddled season?

–    Will the veterans Hornquist and Van Riemsdyk continue their strong play?

–    Will young players such as Olofsson, Mikheyev, Barabanov and Grundstrom continue their positive development? 

–    Will Johnsson and Fischer get back to the level they were at 2 years ago?

There are 2 questions that are easy to answer, no Nielsen will not be on the Panthers roster to start the 2021 / 22 season, he will either be bought out or traded.  The other question that will be easy to answer is yes Shane Pinto will be an integral part of the Panthers future.

Expansion Protected F:          Victor Olofsson, Mattias Janmark, Ilya Mikheyev, Carl                                                             Grundstrom   

Exposed F:                              Matt Duchesne, James Van Riemsdyk, Patrick Hornquist,                                                       Christian Fischer, Frans Nielsen, B. Pirri, R. Grimaldi, JT Brown,                                                Andreas Johnsson

Top 12 Young Guns (23 and under):

1.               K'Andre Miller

2.               Philip Tomasino

3.               Shane Pinto

4.               Justus Annunen

5.               Lassi Thomsson 

6.               Alexander Barabanov

7.               Noel Gunler

8.               Martin Fehervary

9.               Jay O'Brien

10.            Brandon Coe

11.            Jayden Struble

12.            David Cotton

With the Miller, Tomasino, Pinto and Barabanov about to make their DCHL debut the Panthers future looks bright.

Conclusion:

In conclusion the Florida Panthers have gone through a complete turn over and with no high draft picks to build from the Panthers GM decided to acquire assets, either through the draft, trades or free agency.  Its been a long re-build with some disappointments (Bryan Little injury, Dustin Byfuglien retirement), some mistakes (Logan Brown trade), but its been a lot of fun.

Now lets see if the Panthers can become a contender.