Florida Panthers: What Went Wrong in 2016-17 Season

With the Florida Panthers officially eliminated from playoff contention, let’s take a look back at what went wrong for the team from South Florida this season.

After a magnificent 2015-16 campaign which saw a franchise-record 103 points, an Atlantic Division championship, and around 1 overtime loss in game 7 that was heartbreaking albeit encouraging, the Florida Panthers were poised for continued success this season and many picked them as potential Stanley Cup finalists.

Unfortunately, this was not to be. A team that, a year ago ranked 6th in the NHL in both goals for and goals against, didn’t even get close to that level of play this season. With five games to go, the Florida Panthers rank 22nd in goals (2.56 per game) and 18th in goals against (2.81 per game).

Bad luck seemed to follow this team from the beginning. The year got off to a rocky start before the season even began thanks to the injury bug.

Panthers’ Preseason Injuries

During last October’s final preseason game, star forward Jonathan Huberdeau suffered a lacerated Achilles tendon and was sidelined for the first 50 or so games of the season, not seeing any ice time until a February 3rd game against the Anaheim Ducks.

A critical member of Florida’s top-six, Huberdeau had a breakout season in 15-16, tallying 20 goals and 39 assists, including 13 points on the power play, something that this year’s Panthers struggled immensely on during his extended absence.

And his absence was felt almost immediately, as the Panthers lost six of its first 10 games. Without him leading the forwards, the offense and goal-scoring suffered. Everything that worked so well during the Atlantic Division Championship year wasn’t working without Huberdeau and the team went a disappoint .500 during the first 20 games.

Coaching Changes…and More Injuries

After that 21st game, a 3-2 loss to Carolina, head coach Gerard Gallant was relieved of his duties and the Panthers promoted GM Tom Rowe to interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Multiple outlets called this firing “the worst in NHL history” and many Florida Panthers players were on record expressing their anger toward this coaching change.

Interim coach Rowe got off to a very rocky start, inheriting a team that was already struggling because of injuries, and was now dealing with low morale because of the disconnect between the front office and the players. Since taking over the team, Rowe has gone 22-23-10 and, frankly, that probably won’t be enough to get him another year behind the bench.

More injuries further hurt this team as center Nick Bjugstad was also lost during a preseason game and didn’t see the ice until January, while Aleksander Barkov was out for the entirety of January with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad missed time. Starting netminder Roberto Luongo missed some time — only playing 41 games thus far in net — and didn’t get close to his numbers from last season. His GAA went from 2.35 to 2.68, and his save percentage dropped from .922 to .915.

Florida Panthers Eliminated

By the time the Florida Panthers got healthy in February when Huberdeau, Barkov, and Bjugstad all returned to the lineup, the team looked rejuvenated and a playoff run looked to be back in the cards despite all of the on and off-ice issues. After the healthy roster recorded the first-ever sweep of a five-game road trip, the Eastern Conference was put on notice that this was a team to watch out for down the stretch.

Unfortunately, that notice didn’t last long, as the Panthers lost 13 of the next 18 games following that West Coast trip, and every loss saw the playoffs slip further and further away from the team from South Florida.

Flash forward to Thursday night and the Panthers needed a win and a Bruins regulation loss to stay in playoff contention. It was another tough night for Florida, as the team lost to the Atlantic-leading Montreal Canadiens and had its playoffs hopes dashed once and for all.

Next: Montreal Canadiens: Case for the Stanley Cup

This season started rocky and finished rockier. It will be interesting to see how the Florida Panthers organization handles Tom Rowe and the front office during the offseason. As it is in professional hockey, the team will go through some roster changes during the summer, but the core nucleus has what it takes to win as long as it stays healthy. One thing is for certain: the Florida Panthers will have all eyes on a repeat of the 15-16 season, one that saw a wonderful play on both ends of the ice. The 16-17 season? Well, that can go by the wayside as far as Panthers fans are concerned.