Florida Panthers: Great Season, Horrible Playoffs

The Panthers had another great regular season, yet another disappointing playoffs performance.

How the hell will they manage to reach the next step and avoid getting eliminated in the first round again?

In the last 5 seasons, they made it to the playoffs 4 out of 5 times. 

They've reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021-22.

They made it to the 2nd round in 2022-23.

And then they got eliminated in 5 games of the 1st round in 2023-24.

Missed the playoffs in 2024-25.

Got back to the playoffs this season after a great 103 points season, but again, got eliminated in 5 games of the 1st round.

I don't know if GM PKayne has any explanations for that. Honestly, this team is stacked. They have Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Artemi Panarin, Tim Stützle, Cole Caufield, Josh Morrissey, Mathew Barzal, Beckett Sennecke and many others. But they struggled against the Old Wings.

They won the 1st game with a huge performance from Nathan MacKinnon and Artemi Panarin, both registering 5 points. But then, they respectively registered 2 and 1 points in the following 4 games. Tim Stützle produced 4 points in 4 games and then, there's a huge gap and 5 players produced 1 little point. And 10 players failed to register a single point. 

I'm not sure how PKayne will handle this offseason. I'm not sure if he's looking to shake things up big time or take the little tweaks route. He's been really proactive since he entered the league 15 years ago so I guess we're gonna see some action there.

The first step will be re-signing players on expiring contracts such as Jordan Staal, Fabian Zetterlund, Ty Emberson and Louis Crevier. But it shouldn't be too complicated. The important players are all locked for many years to come. So that aspect isn't a preoccupation. They also have plenty of cap room to work with. Which could suggest they'll be looking at making a splash on the free agency market... or go big game hunting on the trade market.

They will probably have to look for a new starting goaltender. Montembeault was really good in this RHL season but something tells me we should see a regression before next year's start. Alex Lyon is a good goaltender on a solid friendly contract but they might see him as the perfect #2 and not necessarily as the starter they need to take the next step.

Their offense & defense is already stacked, no glaring holes, but they will probably look to make some changes bit so they can send a message to their locker room. They have untouchables. But they also have players that can be traded to spark things up.

Oh, and they also have the 12nd overall pick and the 26th overall pick in the upcoming RHL Draft. They've "traded up" a lot before to select the players they really wanted. They made it to select Cole Caufield, Beckett Sennecke and Caleb Desnoyers, among others. Something tells me they won't hesitate a bit if they need to do it again this year to get their hands on the player they're eyeing.

On the brighter side of the organization, the Charlottes Checkers are currently tied 2-2 in the AHL Finals against the Texas Stars. They already won the championship 2 times in the last 5 years. Could they repeat? We'll have an answer by Friday.

More updates to come as we're leaning toward the RHL offseason!

Stay tuned.

Mark Kandy
Miami Sun