Apr 21, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Florida Panthers center Jonathan Huberdeau (11) tries to get around Boston Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton (27) during the third period of a NHL game. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Panthers’ 2013 season was rife with disappointment.  There were underwhelming performances, there was terrible injury luck but there was also Jonathan Huberdeau. The Florida Panthers’ 2011 top draft pick had an outstanding rookie season and was one of the few bright spots on a generally woeful Panthers team.

Huberdeau finished the year with 14 goals and 17 assists in 48 games played. With 31 points, Huberdeau tied Edmonton’s Nail Yakupov for the rookie scoring title. Amongst rookies, Huberdeau ranked third in goals, assists, and shots while averaging 16:55 minutes per game for a team with little in the way of offensive firepower. His accomplishments did not go unrecognized as he was named one of the three finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy awarded to the league’s rookie of the year.

In celebration of Jonathan Huberdeau’s excellent rookie campaign, here is a look at his top five moments from the 2013 season:

1) 1/19/13 Three point performance in career debut

Expectations were high for Jonathan Huberdeau going into his rookie year but after his performance in the Panthers’ 5-1 season opening drubbing of the Carolina Hurricanes, it was clear that the expectations were not high enough. It only took Huberdeau three minutes and thirty seven seconds to get that first NHL goal out of his way tipping home a pass from Peter Mueller, and scoring on his first NHL shot. Huberdeau however was not finished as he went on to tally two assists to punctuate a stellar debut.

2) 2/7/13 Huberdeau Burns Bryzgalov

On this night, the Flyers and Panthers were tied at two following the overtime which meant, Jonathan Huberdeau would get his first chance to display his dazzling skills, and boy did he dazzle. My favorite part about the video below is when Hubs skates down to take his chance against Flyers’ goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, the Flyers’ announcer offers up this tasty bit of analysis, “He has a lot of skill.”  Right on cue, Huberdeau proceeds to embarrass Bryzgalov with a brilliantly smooth move.

I like to imagine Bryzgalov’s thought process following the move went something like this, “You got me this time rookie but only because I didn’t see you coming. Try anything like that again and you’ll be sorry!” I like to think thats how things went because just two weeks later the two found themselves in a similar situation, and that brings us to moment three..

3) 2/21/13 Four points, including a nasty penalty shot goal against the Flyers

This was Jonathan Huberdeau’s star game. What I mean by that is, this was the type of performance that is expected of the league’s top tier players. If you are going to be a star in the NHL, you need to have games where nobody else on the ice can touch you, games where you singlehandedly power your team to a win. Coming into this game, the Panthers had lost their last five games and were desperate for two points. Like the ace of a pitching staff, Huberdeau answered the call and delivered two goals and two assists in a 5-2 Panthers’ win. The big moment in this game came when Huberdeau was awarded a first period penalty shot. Having already beaten Flyers’ goalie Ilya Bryzgalov in a shootout with some fancy stick work, (see above) Huberdeau came down the ice…actually, just watch the clip, words don’t do it justice. Suffice to say, I look back on this game against Philly as the game that convinced me that Huberdeau will become a star.

4) 3/5/13 Huberdeau converts penalty shot against the Jets

There are a couple things to note here, first, I do not want this list to get two penalty shot/shootout heavy but thats just the nature of the beast. By converting this penalty shot goal against Ondrej Pavelec, Huberdeau became only the second rookie to score two penalty shot goals in his rookie season. Second, just watch Hubb’s attempt closely. By this time in the season, the word had most definitely gotten out that Huberdeau has some mind-boggling dekes. As Huberdeau approaches Pavelec, you can bet your money that Pavelec is waiting for a deke. He keeps waiting and waiting and waiting and when everyone in the building is expecting the deke to come, Huberdeau releases a lightning quick wrister top corner easily beating Pavelec glove side. Finally, the play leading up to the penalty shot was something special. Huberdeau, who is not the best skater, creates two excellent with hard work and tenacity two attributes you love to see from a player with so much pure skill.

5) 4/18/13 Huberdeau beats Lundqvist

The Panthers’ 6-1 loss to the Rangers on April 18th was a microcosm of their season. With everything seemingly going wrong, Jonathan Huberdeau was the lone positive. But oh what a positive he was! There is not much to be said about this magnificent deke and finish so I will leave you with the words of Q-Tip, “Not no Parkay, not no margarine, Strickly butter baby, strictly butter”.

James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Florida Panthers rookie Jonathan Huberdeau was named one of the three finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy awarded to the league’s rookie of the year. Huberdeau will be up against Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens and Brandon Saad of the Chicago Blackhawks. The winner of the award will be announced during the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals.

It is really no surprise that Huberdeau has been named a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy, whether or not he actually wins the award is another story. Huberdeau finished tied with Nail Yakupov for the rookie scoring lead with 31 points off 14 goals and 17 assists. Gallagher, a fifth round draft pick by the Canadiens in the 2010 NHL Draft, finished the year with 28 points (15 goals, 13 assists) while Saad finished with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists).

As is often the case with these subjective end of season awards that are decided by a media vote, who you vote on depends on how you interpret the meaning of the award (just as Gary Washburn). The NHL defines the award as follows: “The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League”. This sounds very simple and straightforward but when you delve deeper you get into questions such as, “how do you define proficient?” and “how does your definition of proficiency manifest itself on the ice?” in other words “what factors do you take into account when make your pick”?

Jonathan Huberdeau led these three finalists in the main counting stats so if that is what you value than he would be the clear choice. But wait a minute: Nail Yakupov had tied Huberdeau for the rookie scoring title and he also led all rookies with 17 goals but he did not even get nominated! So its clear that the award is not solely based on numbers.

So what do voters value? Is it ice-time? quality of competition? helping your team advance to the playoffs? or could it be WOW moments? If your making the case for Huberdeau, it would go as follows: He played for a team that was crippled by injuries and managed to be productive despite the fact that most of his shifts came against opponents top players. While the other rookies benefitted from playing on deep teams with other star players that their opponents had to focus on stopping, Huberdeau was often the main focus in opponents defensive game plans. Jonathan also displayed excellent puck handling ability, deft passes, mind boggling dekes,and an intrinsic knowledge of the game that cannot be taught.

It may sound cliche but it doesn’t really matter who wins the rookie of the year award. What matters for the Panthers is that Huberdeau had a fantastic rookie season and has a bright future ahead of him. That being said Huberdeau’s being nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy is a continuation of the best story of the season for the Panthers and we will take an in depth look at Huby’s chances off winning as we get closer to the announcement.

Apr 16, 2013; Uniondale, NY, USA; New York Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov (20) and New York Islanders center Josh Bailey (12) and New York Islanders defenseman Mark Streit (2) and New York Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek (4) help keep the puck out of the net against Florida Panthers center Nick Bjugstad (27) and Florida Panthers center Jonathan Huberdeau (11) period of an NHL game at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Panthers face off against the New York Rangers tonight a 7 PM. As you have probably heard, there is a playoff race going on and the Rangers happen to be in the thick of it. New York is tied with the Winnipeg Jets with 46 points, the Rangers having played one less game hold the 8th and final playoff spot but their grasp is certainly tenuous.

The prevailing talking points the last few Panthers games have all been about Florida’s opportunity to play the spoiler role against teams fighting for the playoffs. While this is interesting, it puts all of the focus on the opposing teams and their respective playoff battle and quite frankly, I am sick about talking about other teams’ playoff chances. In an attempt to bring some of the focus back on the Panthers, I have detailed below five Florida Panther story lines that will be unfolding tonight and throughout the rest of the season.

1) Jonathan Huberdeau and the rookie scoring title:

As it stands right now, Huberdeau has 27 points and a one point lead over Cory Conacher. Nail Yakupov has heated up recently tallying nine points in his last eight games giving him 25 on the year. The race for the Calder Memorial Trophy given to the NHL Rookie of the Year is somewhat muddled but if Huberdeau can hold onto the scoring lead, he may be the best candidate for the award.

Huby could virtually assure himself the Rookie of the Year award if can lead all rookies in goals as well as points. He is currently tied with Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher with 13 but Huberdeau has stalled recently failing to record a goal in his last seven games.

It would be nice to see Jonathan Huberdeau heat up in these last six games and emphatically stake his claim to the scoring title and in doing so stake his claim to the Calder Memorial Trophy. Whether or not he does that remains to be seen.

2) Nick Bjugstad and Quinton Howden

For the past year or so Quinton Howden and Nick Bjugstad have been mentioned among the names of talented Panther prospects who, upon their arrival, will help take the team to the next  level. Well, they have arrived, will they take the Panthers to the next level? Howden and Bjugstad are just 21 and 20 years old respectively and both have made their NHL debut this season. Howden has played in 13 games and has not recorded a point while averaging 9:29 of ice time per game. Bjugstad, who also has not recorded a point, has gotten a little more time in his five games with the Panthers averaging 14:00 per game.

Both players are extremely young and both have a long way to go in their development. These last few games of the season will give Panther fans a brief glimpse of what the future holds.

Apr 13, 2013; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom (35) makes a save on a shot by Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Beau Bennett (19) in the third period at the BB

3) Jacob Markstrom

The biggest question surrounding the Panthers going forward is: “Is Jacob Markstrom ready to be a number one NHL goaltender?” At times it has looked like he is ready and at other times it looks like he has a long way to go. This is indicative of the biggest aspect Markstrom is missing from his game, consistency. In his 18 games this season Markstrom has gone through stretches of outstanding play (i.e. March 19-24, a three game stretch were Markstrom put up a .974 SV% stopping 111-114 shots faced) but he has also gone through stretches like the last three games where he has been pulled twice while allowing 13 goals on 62 shots.

These next six games are huge for Markstrom and the Panthers organization. If he steps up his play, Markstrom can go a long way towards solidifying for himself next year’s number one goalie position.

4) 2013 Draft

A sub-plot to the remaining games on the Panthers’ schedule will be the “race” for last place in the NHL. The Panthers sit three points behind the 29th place Avalanche and it appears that the only other player for last place will be the Carolina Hurricanes who are currently four points ahead of Florida. Finishing last won’t necessarily guarantee the Panthers the number one pick but it will certainly help. The NHL Draft Lottery on April 29th looms in the distance, the details of which I detailed yesterday in a draft preview post.

If the Panthers do finish last and get the first pick in the draft, they will almost certainly pick defenseman Seth Jones who has been garnering comparisons to Nicklas Lidstrom. Not a bad reward for enduring such a miserable season.

5) The Other Guys

As the season comes to a close, a lot of the focus will be on the young players that the Panthers have locked up for the next couple of years i.e. Markstrom, Huberdeau, Gudbranson, Shore, Bjugstad, and Howden but there are a lot of questions regarding a number of other players on the Panthers roster. These last six games are  a sort of tryout. The Panthers’ front office will be looking at these games when they make the decisions regarding which players fit their “blueprint” and are worth keeping, and which players can be let go or traded in the off-season.

Players like Peter Mueller, Jack Skille and Shawn Matthias will be restricted free agents at the end of the season who will the Panthers re-sign? Will they try to lock Matthias up long term or will they instead focus on resigning veteran unrestricted free agent Stephen Weiss? On the defensive side of things, Tyson Strachan will be an unrestricted free agent at the years end and T.J. Brennan will be a restricted free agent. Both have played well with the Panthers and it will be interesting to see who is back next year.

Although the Panthers are not gearing up for a playoff run as the season comes to a close, they remain a fascinating team that seems to be in a perpetual state of flux. What the team looks like at the beginning of next season is anybody’s guess but what happens in these last six games will play an important role in the decisions that are sure to come this off-season.

What story lines are you most interested these last few weeks? Do you think Huberdeau is a shoo-in for Rookie of the year? If you were the GM who would you make a priority of resigning?