FLORIDA PANTHERS
Coach: Paul Maurice, next time. (817-712-99 about 26 seasons)
Season OPENER: Oct. 12 at Minnesota.
DEPARTURES: F Anthony Duclair, F Eric Staal, D Marc Staal, D Radko Gudas, G Alex Lyon.
ADDITIONS: D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D Dmitry Kulikov, F Steven Lorentz, D Niko Mottola, G Anthony Stolarz.
GOALIES: Sergei Bobrovsky (24-20-3, 3.07 GAA, .901 save percentage) and Spencer Knight (9-8-3, 3.18, .901).
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK STANLEY CUP ODDS: 20-1.
Very last Season: Matthew Tkachuk’s first period with the Panthers was a resounding good results. They have been the final staff to make the Jap Conference playoffs and almost were the final team standing in the NHL, immediately after ousting Boston — the very best typical-season staff in league history — adopted by Toronto and Carolina in what turned the Panthers’ to start with operate to the Stanley Cup Remaining given that 1996. Year 2 of the Paul Maurice era brings stability, and there is an comprehension of the systems that he required much of the calendar year to put in last season.
STRENGTHS: Tkachuk doesn’t even think he’s coming into his prime yet, which is a delightful sentiment for Florida and possibly a horrifying just one for each individual other club. Including the playoffs, he concluded his to start with Florida period with 133 points and 197 penalty minutes — only the second participant in NHL heritage to put up such quantities in a time (Kevin Stevens, 1991-92). Aleksander Barkov is nonetheless just one of the most underappreciated stars in the activity, and Sergei Bobrovsky’s scintillating playoff run displays he nonetheless can be a person of the ideal goalies in the NHL.
WEAKNESSES: Injuries are previously a dilemma and the Panthers haven’t played a true sport nevertheless. Florida realized when previous period ended that quite a few gamers — most notably defensemen Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad — would miss a lot of time to start this time because of what they performed by way of for the duration of previous season’s playoffs. Montour and Ekblad are each recovering from shoulder surgeries and could be back sometime about mid-December, but Florida will be about 30 video games into the season by then.
WHAT TO Anticipate: A core that options Tkachuk, Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe and Bobrovsky is heading to be great adequate to contend. But the Atlantic Division is brutal and could be the NHL’s best. No one — not even the Panthers — thinks it will be easy to get again into the playoffs. But the lesson from very last yr has to be that every sport counts, and that it’s amazingly difficult to get into the postseason when there are pronounced common-season slides.
Player TO Look at: Bobrovsky. Playoff Bob was a sight to behold very last spring he wasn’t the rationale why Florida didn’t get the Cup. If he can carry flashes of that to the common period, it will just take pressure off the scoring strains. But Bobrovsky is also heading to have new defensemen in front of him, and that’s going to consider some time to change to.
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