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Florida Panthers - Will they be back as a Stanley Cup contender next season?

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Florida Panthers next season - will they bounce back as a top Stanley Cup contender?

  • Yes in 26-27, Florida will be back as a top Stanley Cup contender

    Votes: 32 51.6%

  • No - but in 26-27, Florida will at least be in the playoff hunt all year

    Votes: 27 43.5%

  • No - and they won't even be in playoff hunt, but rather a bottom feeder again

    Votes: 3 4.8%
  • Total voters
    62

bobholly39

Registered User
Mar 10, 2013
23,446
19,391
Florida made the finals in 2023 and lost, and the won cups in both 24 and 25. Not quite the threshold for "dynasty", but close.

And then this season - they are going to miss the playoffs, pretty spectacularly too, as they aren't even close.

That's a very big drop - what do you think happens next year?

I know they had certain major injuries (ie Barkov), but still, I think it's a much worst outcome than most of the hockey world expected. To contrast with other top teams in previous seasons - Tampa without Kucherov, Vegas without Stone - both managed to qualify for playoffs.

So poll question is - what do you expect form Florida next year? Here are the 3 options to pick from;

1. Florida will be back as a top Stanley Cup contender next year - vote here if you believe they'll be comfortably back in playoffs and one of the leading cup contenders next season.

2. Florida will be in the playoff hunt, but not seen as a top contender - vote here if you believe they'll be in the playoff hunt all year, whether they qualify or miss, yet not be seen as a top contender.

3. Florida will again be near bottom of standings, not even in playoff race - vote here if you believe they'll again be a bottom feeder, never really in the hunt for playoffs.

I know a lot of people are going to want to say "it depends on the off-season". Well, that's why this is a prediction poll. What do you predict? Do they bounce back, or not?
 
bobholly39 said:
I know a lot of people are going to want to say "it depends on the off-season". Well, that's why this is a prediction poll. What do you predict? Do they bounce back, or not?
Click to expand...

It depends a lot more on whether Barkov comes back as a top 5 forward again, with the secondary concern then being can they get a goaltender after sending Bob to a farm up state

I’ll say yes they’re a contender assuming Barkov isn’t a shell of his former self, this is probably their best shot before the wheels might really fall off for Marchand

Also might end up being the summit for Tkachuk/Bennett/Jones
 
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Got two factors.
1. Can they stay relatively healthy or at least avoid the injury bug to multiple core players?
Every team deals with injuries, so not saying Florida was the only one. But they got dug an early hole by missing Barkov the entire year, Tkachuk till after Olympics, various players who aren't stars like Kulikov but a rock solid blueline depth missed 3 months, and Nosek blew his knee in camp too. The final blow IMO was Jones missing 23-26 games after the Winter Classic. Before the Front office gave up, we had 2 lines full of career AHL guys and the blueline depth never came close to the 23, 24 and 25 seasons. Losing OEL in 24 didn't hurt cause they got Nate Schmidt in 25. Getting Petry in 26 was an obvious downgrade. We had a few games where the expected top 4 centers were out injured.

2. What do they do at goalie.
a. Re-sign Bob and hope this year was due to other factors
b. Trade for a goalie like Igor or Wallstedt.
c. Try for another goalie.

If they get Igor, I think they are undoubtedly cup favorites in the East unless half the team dies again.
Bob going back to 4goalsky blew several games to the point of being in the hunt to 10+ points backs.
 
ShootIt said:
Got two factors.
1. Can they stay relatively healthy or at least avoid the injury bug to multiple core players?
Every team deals with injuries, so not saying Florida was the only one. But they got dug an early hole by missing Barkov the entire year, Tkachuk till after Olympics, various players who aren't stars like Kulikov but a rock solid blueline depth missed 3 months, and Nosek blew his knee in camp too. The final blow IMO was Jones missing 23-26 games after the Winter Classic. Before the Front office gave up, we had 2 lines full of career AHL guys and the blueline depth never came close to the 23, 24 and 25 seasons. Losing OEL in 24 didn't hurt cause they got Nate Schmidt in 25. Getting Petry in 26 was an obvious downgrade. We had a few games where the expected top 4 centers were out injured.

2. What do they do at goalie.
a. Re-sign Bob and hope this year was due to other factors
b. Trade for a goalie like Igor or Wallstedt.
c. Try for another goalie.

If they get Igor, I think they are undoubtedly cup favorites in the East unless half the team dies again.
Bob going back to 4goalsky blew several games to the point of being in the hunt to 10+ points backs.
Click to expand...
What on Earth are they trading for Igor? He's got Vezina rumblings going again this year and is already one of the best playoff 'tenders of all time.
 
superstars said:
no more LTIR loophole to abuse and Bob looks cooked so they'll be a contender but not better than the other ones at the top. don't see an option for "middling contender"
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Sorry, Barkov returns = Stanley Cup returns to Florida
 
A good bit of their team will have had some rest this year after playing almost a whole extra season worth of playoff games. I'm certainly not going to count them out next when they are healthy and rested until a good reason to shows up.
 
They’ll be back in an even harder division than this year, so they’ll be fighting for a spot like all the teams.
 
They literally have an amazing asset in a top 10 pick coming they can use to get a good goalie, so they'll 100% be back.

I hope to be wrong and them being 30+ for the wheels to fall off, but I'm not betting against them. A core of Reinhart, Barkov, Tkachuk, Verhaeghe, Ekblad, Jones, Forsling, Lundell is simply too good not to at least be top 4 in the East which is wide open IMO.
 
NVious said:
They literally have an amazing asset in a top 10 pick coming they can use to get a good goalie, so they'll 100% be back.

I hope to be wrong and them being 30+ for the wheels to fall off, but I'm not betting against them. A core of Reinhart, Barkov, Tkachuk, Verhaeghe, Ekblad, Jones, Forsling, Lundell is simply too good not to at least be top 4 in the East which is wide open IMO.
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Not counting the most recent Conn Smythe winner? and Marchand?
 
well, i m o, anything can happen, they could miss the PO, or go into PO
and even win SC, in general almost anything can happen in hockey and does
aka Barkovs freak accident, which was just insane the way it happened
 
contender?

healthy Barkov and they the overwhelming favorites he's that good
 
Boreal01 said:
Do you seriously want to find out 40 year old Bobrovsky looks like
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No but both Zito and Bob have said they want to get a deal done.
At start of the year, I did a Bob contract thread on Panthers board and most thought 4 years minimum.

Now, I'd prefer it to be 2 years max, even if it's a slightly inflated AAV to avoid more term.
He'd still be a solid backup for next 2 years IMO.

He put the Panthers on his back in those Cup runs/wins and it'll be a legacy deal for him.
He needs to understand he's not capable of 50ish games anymore, 30 would be ideal.
 
Absolutely.

Last time a good team was at the top of the League in man games lost and missed the playoffs clearly because of it was Vegas in 2021. Next year they won the Cup.

Panthers are gonna come back, show who is boss and play Panther hockey in the regular season while being most likely the healthiest since the 23/24 season - team that was competing for the Presidents Trophy until March when they took their foot off the gas.

I mean really, they're bringing back almost the exact same skaters that won the cup last year, with only some minor tweaks. No idea who is gonna be in goal, but with 10M+ in cap space I'm sure they'll figure that out.

Easy prediction to make and anyone who thinks otherwise is gonna be in for a rude awakening.

Panthers back makes the East even trickier and harder for everyone else to make the playoffs, which makes it even worse for teams that almost made it this year but choked at the end - missed opportunity for sure.

If your're worried about what's going on now, it was like this for Boston at this time last year too and look how they bounced back this year with a clearly weaker roster than the Panthers healthy one. In other words, it doesn't matter.
 
Yes. People forget how much wear and year the playoffs add. They played an extra 68 games 2023-2025. Thats basically an entire season. Add in they have had short off seasons, it was unlikely they'd make another finals run. Tampa made the playoffs in 2023 but you could tell all the extra games had worn on them.
 
I think definite playoff hunt team, it will be hard for them to compete for cups again imo. The core is another year older, there are injury concerns, and they’ve put a ton of miles on their body the last few years. Not saying they won’t, it just would be difficult and imo unlikely
 
superstars said:
no more LTIR loophole to abuse and Bob looks cooked so they'll be a contender but not better than the other ones at the top. don't see an option for "middling contender"
Click to expand...
Oh nice did we use the loophole in 2024? The loser excuses should probably stop eventually.
EDIT: Oilers fan. Never mind carry on with the crying. Those 2 beatings give you that right.
 
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