Florida Panthers: Rat Race to the Playoffs Fell Short. Why, and Now What?

At the All-Star break, the Florida Panthers’ playoffs hopes were dwarfed by hopes for Rasmus Dahlin in the Draft Lottery, as the season spiraled further and further down.

No one would have ever imagined that on the (original) last day of the regular season, the Panthers would still wake up with a chance at the dance, albeit as slim as they were. But after the Flyers win against the Rangers, the long shot of all long shots remained just out of reach for a Panthers team that came so close and yet will feel so far away.

What went wrong, what comes next, and what needs to happen for the Panthers to be preparing for the postseason this time next year?

Since the trade deadline, the Panthers have been at a blistering pace, but other teams ahead of them in the race somehow ended up playing a tiny bit better:

Florida went 15-5-2.

Columbus went 15-4-2.

New Jersey went 12-7-1, and 10-3-1 in their last 14.

Philly went 10-6-4.

At the trade deadline, the Panthers were five points behind the Blue Jackets and 10 behind New Jersey in the race for the Wild Cards with three games at hand on both. Pending their result against Boston, they could finish just one point behind them both.

The Flyers were 14 points up on Florida with the Cats holding three games at hand, and could finish only two points behind them. Even with some head scratching losses, including two against Ottawa and one against Edmonton, closing back that gap on three teams like that is legitimately hard. They were only in playoff position for one day in this entire stretch of remarkable hockey, showing how much of a hole they dug themselves in, but how far they climbed out if it.

But they still had that much of a gap because they didn’t find their feet until after the All Star break. They were 10 points out of a playoff spot on the morning of January 31st, tied for the third fewest points in the East with Detroit and Montreal.

50 points (should they beat Boston) after the All-Star break in 34 games is an insane pace that many of the best teams don’t even reach. Those best teams however don’t have to play at that pace just to keep themselves in contention.

Good teams aren’t in the bottom five of the standings at Thanksgiving, usually a death knell for teams then out of a playoff position. Bob Boughner and his staff will be pulling their hair out this summer wondering how and why a team that could play as they did post All-Star break could start so poorly.

A season that ends like this certainly ends with mixed emotions. There is promise because of how the Panthers played down the stretch, figuring out the type of game they want to play and becoming effective at it.

They remained remarkably healthy outside of Roberto Luongo’s long stretches out, and when he returned, he played like he did in his best days in Vancouver. Every one of the Panthers stars played like stars when they were called upon to, but that was only enough to keep this team barely in contention.

The regret comes from the start, which saw the Panthers start 8-11-2. They were leaking goals, they couldn’t kill penalties, and looked entirely lost trying to figure out how to play for their new head coach. According to Puck on Net, the Panthers were 21st at score adjusted puck possession at even strength, and had allowed 73 goals. Slow starts have often doomed Panther teams in the past, and this one may go down as one that truly ruined a season before it started.

Down the stretch, they threw in clunkers against Ottawa twice and Edmonton once, two of those games at home. They set a franchise record for home wins in a season with 27, but with two more they may have been in the postseason. Losses like those against teams who are well out of contention are killers, even if most of the best and hottest have a few of them. But for a team whose margin of error is essentially zero, those losses are even more detrimental.

A few young players took steps forward this year, such as Denis Malgin, Jared McCann and especially MacKenzie Weegar, but most fans would have liked to see others like Mamin and a few from Springfield play more than Micheal Haley or Jamie McGinn ended up playing. 34 games of stellar play is wonderful, but they can only do so much to mask 48 games of less than stellar play from a team that was still decidedly top-heavy.

If games at hand, incredible injury luck, red-hot goaltending and superstar performances from every one of the Panthers stars wasn’t enough to make the postseason, what will be enough?

At the All-Star break, the Florida Panthers’ playoffs hopes were dwarfed by hopes for Rasmus Dahlin in the Draft Lottery, as the season spiraled further and further down.

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