Panthers’ hot start demonstrates championship potential

The Florida Panthers are off to an impressive start this season, and it’s a perfect example of why this team will be a threat come playoff time.

The Panthers are 7-0-0, putting them atop the NHL standings early in the season. The team is getting lights out goaltending from former Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky, and it is being led offensively by superstar Jonathan Huberdeau, who has nine points in seven games so far.

Florida has also gotten offensive contributions consistently throughout the lineup in the early stages of the 2021-22 campaign. Ten players have recorded at least five points this year, including six that have recorded seven points for a point-per-game output.

For as strong as the team has been offensively, the defense has been equally impressive. Bobrovsky is boasting a .946 save percentage, as the team is allowing fewer than two goals per game. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad carries a plus-9 rating, which is tied for the top mark in that category. He is joined in the top 20 by six of his Panthers teammates, including captain Aleksander Barkov.

With all of that taken into consideration, are there many teams in the NHL that have a higher ceiling than Florida? The Panthers are scoring often, defending well, and most importantly, winning regularly. It’s not a pace that will be maintained for 82 games, but it’s a glimpse at what Florida could bring to the table as the season progresses into the postseason.

What makes this club especially dangerous, though, is the fact that it still has more to give. The special teams play of the Panthers ranks in the middle of the pack, but if they can improve those numbers even slightly, it adds another layer to the already impressive play in Florida.

Perhaps what intrigues me most is another asset that has yet to consistently find the lineup, and that’s Spencer Knight. His sample size in the NHL is small, but it has been nothing but positive, and recent postseason history tells us that having a young goalie in the lineup can be a key piece to the championship puzzle. Matt Murray won two Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a “rookie” while Jordan Binnington resurrected the St. Louis Blues’ season in 2018-19 in route to a title.

Yes, Bobrovsky is now looking more like the player that the Panthers paid for in 2020, but having Knight on reserve could be a productive formula for a Florida team that should absolutely be aiming for the Stanley Cup Final.

Now, I would have made the point that coaching is yet another advantage that the Panthers have, but with the recent findings regarding the Chicago Blackhawks, and the implications they carry for former coach Joel Quenneville, Florida now has a question mark behind the bench. With Quenneville out, the Panthers lose a three time champion and will have to find a suitable replacement.

However, if we again circle back to recent champions, midseason replacement coaches have faired well. Mike Sullivan won with Pittsburgh, Craig Berube won with St. Louis, and Rick Bowness got the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final. It’s not ideal, and it’s certainly not what this team had in mind entering the year, but there is a successful precedent for replacing a coach in the middle of a season.

All things considered, Florida has been dangerous in the opening weeks of the season, and with more still to come, the potential for this team is through the roof. If the Panthers can consistently play to their potential, there may not be a team in the NHL that can prevent them from winning it all.