Disapointing season in Miami

The expectations were high on the Florida Panthers when the season began but it quickly derailed and became a real nightmare for the team. On paper, that group was solid. They had a core of Nathan MacKinnon, Artemi Panarin, Tim Stützle, Cole Caufield, Cale Makar, Victor Hedman and Josh Morrissey. And some solid complimentary pieces such as Jamie Oleksiak, Jordan Eberle, Fabian Zetterlund, Trevor Zegras and others.

Seemed like all the pieces were in place to have another great season in Florida. When I asked PKayne what could be the reason for their setbacks, here’s what he had to say: “Honestly, I can’t put the finger on one specific thing. We had great hopes that Connor Ingram (now traded) would be a solid goaltender for us but he was obviously bothered by some off-ice problems. That didn’t help for sure. Montembeault was still seen as the #2 goalie in the organization but he made some solid progress this season and I’m pretty sure he’s ready to take the next step for us next season. Our top forwards like Nate (MacKinnon) and Breadman (Panarin) had fantastic seasons but the secondary scoring was disappointing. A guy like Stützle who produced 24 points while counting for 8,350,000$ on our salary cap has to watch himself in the mirror. He definitely has to be better but at least, he knows it.”

But, is there any good news for the organization?

Well, the Charlotte Checkers just won the league championship with an electric 61-13-8 record, which is good for a total of 130 points, ending up the season with 8 wins in a row. Spencer Martin currently has the best odds to win the “Best goalie of the league” award with his 49-8-8 record (14 shutouts), 1.64 GAA and 0.938 save percentage. His 49 wins are #1 in the league and the #2 is at 44. Joshua Roy will be a “Rookie of the year” finalist for sure with his 25 goals and 42 assists for 67 points which is currently #1 in points among rookies. He’s also #1 around the whole league for GWG.

Some other players that had something to say in the Checkers’ success…

Dman Ty Emberson registered 7 goals and 44 assists (which is good for 5th best in the whole league in that category – forwards included) for 51 points and was a +25 which is really good but his most impressive feature was probably his hits total: He had 332 – good for the 1st place in that category – 71 more than anyone in the league and a hundred more than the 3rd place holder.

Michael Sgarbossa is currently 2nd in the league in points (77) and 2nd in assists too (47).

Rocco Grimaldi is currently 2nd in the league in goals (33).

And many other players also contributed to Charlotte’s success. They’re going in the playoffs with the “favorite tag” but let’s see how they will answer to that pressure.

For the Panthers, well, of course, GM PKayne is gonna be really active just like every other offseasons he had.

The focus will be on re-signing star Dman Josh Morrissey who could be a UFA on July 1st if no deal is reached between the two camps. PKayne was really confident it would get done soon though.

Trevor Zegras is going to be an RFA on July 1st so he’s on the “to do list” of course but him and Morrissey are the only 2 pro roster players needing new contracts. 

PKayne will obviously look at the trade market and should be active on the free agency market as well. A roster shake-up is definitely a possibility but I think we have better chances to see some smaller moves. But eh, who knows, we’ve been used to PKayne making some splashes in the RHL for a while now.

The draft will be really important for them too. They will have the 4th best lottery ticket and it should land them a superstar in the making. They also have a 2nd round pick that will be around 47th total, 3 3rd round picks and many other picks to work with. And their top 3 prospects (Beckett Sennecke, Gabe Perreault and David Reinbacher) will eventually join the team too.

But for now, AHL playoffs time and then, we'll see what happens in Florida!

Stay tuned!

Mark Kandy
Miami Sun

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