Florida Panthers Defense Has Been Historically Terrible

The Florida Panthers defense has been allowing a ton of shots on goal. But just how terrible, awful, and horrible have they been? 

Going into the 2017-18 NHL season, the Florida Panthers decided to go with a younger blue line. The Jason Demers trade is a great example. Not only was the trade done as a salary cap dump, it was done for the purpose of giving younger players more ice time.

Usually, giving younger players more ice time isn’t a bad thing. At worst, it allows you to properly evaluate them. For a team looking to get younger like the Panthers, it’s especially important. However, through the first 16 games of the season, this plan has backfired in the worst way possible.

More from Florida Panthers

• The Florida Panthers will have a better regular season in 2023-24
• The winners and losers from day one of the 2023 NHL Draft
• 2023 NHL Draft Live Updates: News, Draft Selections, Trades and More
• Matthew Tkachuk Deserved More Hart Trophy Consideration
• 2023 NHL Awards: Connor McDavid Wins Hart Trophy

It’s worth noting this is a small sample size. But the Panthers have allowed an eye-popping 36.3 shots against per game. That’s the 13th most of all-time. And in case you prefer goals to shots against, they have the sixth-highest goals against rate of any team since the lockout. No, not the 2012 lockout. Not the 2005-06 lockout, but you’re getting warmer. Yes, the 1994-95 lockout.

But let’s focus on the shots against because that’s alarming. Every team with a higher GAA than them allowed fewer shots. If things don’t improve, unless Roberto Luongo finds the fountain of youth or James Reimer magically transforms into an elite goaltender, the Panthers are going to wind up being known as arguably the worst defensive team in quite some time.

Digging Deep

Just how bad have the Panthers been? Let’s place things in context. You remember that list of the teams that allowed the most shots on goal per game of all-time? Let’s take another look at it.

This list demands some context. Starting at the top, the 1974-75 Washington Capitals were in their first season. They ended with the lowest single-season point percentage of all-time. It’s a record of futility. The 1975-76 Capitals were still in effect an expansion team since they were in their second year.

While the 1992-93 San Jose Sharks were almost as bad as the 1974-75 Caps, like them, they were an expansion team. The 1969-70 North Stars were in their second year of existence. And the hilarious part is they actually made the playoffs, barely beating out the Oakland Seals and Philadelphia Flyers. 

So let’s remove all of the expansion teams because comparing the Panthers to them isn’t fair.

Oh dear, this puts Florida among the 10 worst defenses of all-time. This is a team that has Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle on it. So who have been the primary offenders?

Even Strength

First, let’s look at even strength. Currently, the Panthers allow the third most shots against per hour at even strength. Ekblad, Mark Pysyk, and Yandle rank in the top 40 for lowest shot attempts against per hour at even strength among defensemen with at least 200 minutes. They clearly aren’t the issue. The issue at even strength has been, you guessed it, the younger defensemen (plus Alex Petrovic).

Penalty Kill

But what about their penalty kill, which has allowed an astronomical 76.32 shots per hour (second highest in the NHL)? That’s where Pysyk has been a liability, leading the team in PK shots against per hour with 81.34 (minimum 20 short-handed minutes played). However, he also leads their defensemen in shorthanded ice time. So it’s hard to tell if the Panthers are bad because Pysyk plays on the PK a lot, or if his numbers look bad because he kills penalties a lot.

The blame ultimately probably goes to whoever’s coaching the penalty kill. Pysyk was very good just a season ago, allowing under a shot against per minute on the penalty kill in over 200 minutes. There might be other factors at play, but often, the simplest answer is the correct one.

Next: 3 Bold Predictions For The Panthers

With the coaching changes the Florida Panthers made, maybe they didn’t make good changes. Change can be a refreshing thing for NHL teams. But not all change is good. And it’s clear whatever changes the Panthers made are not working because they’re on pace to be a historically bad defensive team. New head coach Bob Boughner has some work to do or his seat might start getting hot very soon.