Florida Panthers 2013-14 Season Primer

• Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:

  So much for building off of their success in 2011-12. Florida finally managed to snap their 10 season postseason drought, but they followed it up with one of their worst seasons in franchise history. Keep in mind that while the Panthers have only been around since 1993-94, they have had some truly terrible campaigns, so that is not a statement to be taken lightly.

  The obvious silver lining is that their losing ways allowed them to get Alexander Barkov. He should be a major part of the team’s rebuilding effort, which actually looks pretty promising. Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau are a solid foundation to build a team around and the club do have some other noteworthy young talent from forward Drew Shore to defenseman Erik Gudbranson to goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

  Florida also have some veteran leadership to help guide the young team forward, including new arrival Scott Gomez. While his best days seem to be behind him, Sharks’ bench boss Todd McLellan praised Gomez as being like having ‘a third or a fourth coach’. That’s exactly the kind of guy you want to add when you have an eye towards the future.

  Unfortunately for the Panthers, none of that changes the fact that they’re likely in for yet another painful season. Huberdeau and Barkov should be among their team leaders, but that says more about the sorry state of the Panthers offense than it does about their likely production at this stage of their careers. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if no member of the Panthers reaches the 25-goal or 60-point milestones this season.

• Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:

  Dobber’s lowdown on: Shawn Matthias – He was my lowdown last year, and here is what I wrote – “He may lack the wheels to be a game breaker, but he has the size, the hands and the hockey sense so don’t rule him out just yet. This could go one of two ways – the could be the next Todd Bertuzzi or he could be the next Taylor Pyatt…Bertuzzi didn’t have any more than 33 points before he turned 25, and no more than 55 before he was 27. Matthias is 24, so give him a couple of years yet.” The now-25-year-old is not out of the woods yet, but he made tremendous strides last season, tallying 11 goals and 17 points in the last 28 games (remember – that’s close to when Stephen Weiss was out for the season). Another step forward this year will indicate pretty good odds for a breakout in 2014-15. A step backwards or sideways and he’ll have Taylor Pyatt’ed his way off the
  fantasy radar. Worth a flier in keeper leagues, late in the draft.

  Shore made an impact immediately and made it impossible for him to be sent back down. He tallied 10 points in his first 18 NHL games before hitting a wall. On the other hand, the more highly-touted and much bigger Bjugstad managed just one point in 11 games and was a minus-8. That’s why I think Bjugstad will start the season in the AHL and then make the jump mid-year.

  Butler had nine points in 20 games for Nashville, which is great considering he played just 11 minutes per game. But the minutes were sheltered and low-risk and Butler was in the press box a lot. Florida isn’t as deep as Nashville and Butler is set up to succeed. The best way to succeed is to keep getting playing time regardless of mistakes, as well as being given quality linemates. If he rewards his coach early, he’ll have a surprise season.

  In the last two seasons, Campbell has 22 points in 38 games that Kulikov did not play (0.58) but 58 in 92 that Kulikov did play (0.63). It doesn’t look like a huge difference, but over a full season the two numbers pro-rate to 47 points versus 52.

  Versteeg is actually written off in some leagues, thanks to his knee injury happening almost immediately after returning from another long-term injury. But for four consecutive seasons he totaled between 44 and 54 points. He will probably not start the beginning of this season, as his knee is still recovering from surgery. But he won’t be out long and he’ll be off everyone’s radar.

Follow link for more info and stats

Additions: F Bobby Butler, F Joey Crabb, D Tom Gilbert PTO, D Matt Gilroy, F Scott Gomez, F Philippe Lefebvre, F Jon Matsumoto, D Mike Mottau, F Steve Pinizzotto, G Tim Thomas PTO, F Jesse Winchester.

Subtractions: F Andre Deveaux, G Brian Foster, G Dov Grumet-Morris, F Zach Hamill, F Corban Knight, F Alexei Kovalev, D Filip Kuba, F Peter Mueller, D Brendon Nash, F George Parros, F Sergei Shirokov, F Jack Skille, D Tyson Strachan, G Jose Theodore, F Stephen Weiss, D Nolan Yonkman.

UFAs: G Jose Theodore.

Promotion candidates: G Michael Houser, D Jonathan Racine, C Vincent Trocheck.

Player salaries: $50,176,209 (24)
Cap Number: $57,140,375
Bonuses: $7,850,000
Cap Space: $11,982,125
Forwards: $33,739,167 (15)
Defensemen: $19,467,875 (7)
Goalies: $2,400 (2)
Source: CapGeek

Forwards
Jonathan Huberdeau – Nick Bjugstad – Kris Versteeg
Tomas Fleischmann – Aleksander Barkov – Drew Shore
Shawn Matthias – Marcel Goc – Tomas Kopecky
Quinton Howden – Scott Gomez – Scottie Upshall
Joey Crabb

Defensemen
Brian Campbell – Erik Gudbranson
Dmitry Kulikov – Mike Weaver
Ed Jovanovski – Colby Robak
Matt Gilroy – Mike Mottau

Goalies
Jacob Markstrom
Scott Clemmensen

2013 Florida Panthers Draft Results 

Florida Panthers Top Prospects

2012-13 Florida Panthers Player Stats

Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.