The Florida Panthers are about to begin their 34th season, and legendary players have produced magical moments and unbelievable statistics throughout their careers in southern Florida. Today, we dive into the Panthers' record book to identify the seven franchise records that may never be broken. This is what we came up with.
Gustav Forsling’s plus-56 rating in 2024
In the salary cap era, which began in 2005-06, only seven players have registered a plus/minus total higher than plus-50, including Panthers’ defenseman Gustav Forsling in 2023-24. It was a special year for the Swedish defender, who set a franchise record with his performance. Interestingly, he came within one point of matching Matthew Tkachuk’s total from 2021-22 with the Calgary Flames, when he was plus-57.
As of 2026, Forsling is one of two players to register a plus-40 total by season’s end. He was plus-41 in 2021-22, while MacKenzie Weegar was plus-40 as the Panthers won the Atlantic Division for the third time in franchise history. Considering so few players in the last 20 years have compiled a plus/minus total over 50, Forsling’s spot is secure for the foreseeable future.
Roberto Luongo’s 230 career wins
Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo spent 11 years with the Panthers, five from 2000 to 2006 and another six from 2014 to 2019. At this time, he is the franchise’s best statistical goalie; whether it’s games played, wins, or even losses, there isn’t much he didn’t achieve in Florida. Meanwhile, Sergei Bobrovsky, the club’s most successful netminder, with two Stanley Cup rings, played seven seasons with the Panthers, helping usher in their most successful period in history.
However, Bobrovsky needed at least one more season, if not a season and a half, to surpass Luongo as the team’s winningest goalie, which is a testament to the Hall of Famer’s success. Both legendary goalies took a long time to surpass John Vanbiesbrouck as the top statistical goalie, meaning it would take another lengthy stay for anyone else to pass all three and become the Panthers’ winningest puckstopper.
Pavel Bure’s 59 goals in 2001
Sam Reinhart came ever so close in 2024, but ultimately came two goals short of Pavel Bure’s all-time single-season goal record, which has stood for a quarter of a century. Since the Russian Rocket came one goal shy of 60, a mark almost no one ever scores anymore, it’s safe to say his record could stand the test of time.
Only four players have ever scored more than 40 goals in a single season for Florida: Matthew Tkachuk (40), Carter Verhaeghe (42), Reinhart (57), and Bure (58 and 59). Realistically, Bure’s single-season goal-scoring record is almost completely out of reach, just like his 152 goals in 223 games, which equaled .65 goals a game.
Huberdeau’s 115 points in 2022
Jonathan Huberdeau had the best statistical season of his career in 2021-22, leading the NHL in assists, with 85, a Panthers’ record surely never to be broken. Yet, it’s his 115 points in a single season record that is even more untouchable. It took a Florida player almost three decades to score 100 points, and Huberdeau did it in 2022; he remains one of only two players to reach 100 points in a season, as Tkachuk reached 104 points in 2022-23.
Legendary players like Bure and Aleksander Barkov came close to the 100-point club, but fell short by four to ten points on numerous occasions. Outside of a few superstar players like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, scoring 100 points in the NHL is a difficult task, one that has eluded the Panthers for quite some time, meaning it might take a long time before fans see another magical campaign.
Pavel Bure’s 384 shots on goal in 2001
During the 2000-01 season, when Bure set the franchise record for most goals in a season, he did it by firing 384 shots on goal, a mark that will certainly go unmatched for years to come. Currently, Bure’s total from that season ranks 35th all-time, along with names like Alex Ovechkin, Bobby Orr, and Jaromir Jagr.
In Florida history, only three players have recorded more than 300 shots on goal: Bure did it twice, followed by Olli Jokinen, who achieved the total three times, and Tkachuk, who had 341 shots in 2022-23. Considering he came almost 40 shots shy of Bure’s record, Panthers fans may never see someone fire 385 shots on goal, dethroning the Russian Rocket’s place at the top.
Roberto Luongo’s 75 games played in 2006
For decades, goalies would play almost every game of their team’s season, with Grant Fuhr establishing an NHL record for 79 games played in 1996, a mark that will never be broken. Today, if a goalie plays more than 50-60 games, fans worry they will burn out for the playoffs, forcing many clubs to employ two No. 1-caliber goalies and giving the team in front of them a chance to win every game.
During Luongo’s first tour of duty with the Panthers, he played in 75 games during the 2005-06 season, a franchise record unlikely to ever be broken. That single-season total accounts for 7.6% of his Florida games played, another out-of-this-world statistic that may never be duplicated. Even though NHL teams began limiting how many games their goalies played, the last active goalie to skate in over 70 was Cam Talbot, who played 73 for the Edmonton Oilers in 2017-18.
Peter Worrell’s 354 penalty minutes in 2002
The NHL has changed drastically over the past 20 years, and the rough style of play that defined the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is long gone, replaced by finesse and skill. Teams no longer employ fighters who roam around protecting superstars; instead, they recruit the bottom six players to score goals and shut down opponents through defensive systems. That’s why Peter Worrell’s record of 354 penalty minutes in a single season is a Panthers record that will never be broken.
For context, only two players have recorded more than 300 penalty minutes in the salary cap era: Daniel Carcillo, with 324 in 2007-08, and Zenon Konopka, with 307 in 2010-11. It’s been 15 years since a player last recorded 300 minutes in a single season, and the last player to even reach 200 with the Panthers was Michael Haley, who had 212 in 2017-18. Last year, A.J. Greer led the team with 113 penalty minutes, ahead of Sam Bennett, who had 83.
Add us as a preferred source on Google