One of the most crippling things that can happen to a hockey team is having its star players miss time due to injury. With Matthew Tkachuk sidelined (at least, from professional hockey) for the foreseeable future, the Florida Panthers are not immune to these types of mishaps. Fresh off of a commanding 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators despite Tkachuk’s absence, though, the Florida Panthers are proving that they are one of the most – if not the most – cohesive teams in the NHL.
Paul Maurice’s System
For starters, the Florida Panthers’ system just works. It frustrates teams that are packed with skill and grit, outwits teams that rely on the hockey IQ of their best players, and outmuscles teams that rely on physical dominance.
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Not only does the system work, but every player in the Panthers’ system is fully bought in to it. The Panthers don’t just have depth, they have competent depth. On any given call-up, their top prospects can be expected to fill in and play exactly the role that they’re intended to play. They seemingly mesh right into head coach Paul Maurice’s high-emotion, heavy-hitting system.
To excel in Maurice’s system, players have to balance effort, skill, and possess a relatively-high hockey IQ, all while going at full-speed, or as close to full-speed as possible. It is no coincidence that nearly every player the Panthers draft or acquire excel in those very things or have at least learned to do so very quickly.
Career Resurgences
With Maurice behind the bench, the Panthers have continued to elevate themselves both individually as players and collectively as a team. Guys like Niko Mikkola have experienced a resurgence in their careers; Mikkola in particular has gone from a borderline bottom-four defenseman to a legitimate top-four defenseman during his Panthers’ tenure.
Other earlier ‘career resurgence’ players on the Panthers’ roster include Gustav Forsling, Sam Bennett, and even Eetu Luostarinen, who was – like many other prospects in that organization – not quite able to crack the NHL roster with the Carolina Hurricanes prior to being traded to the Panthers in 2020 in exchange for Vincent Trocheck.
Sourdif Rapidly Successful
Last night’s game against the Predators in particular made one thing painfully clear: the Panthers – even down a player that could be considered the heart and soul of the team next to Aleksander Barkov – are fully bought-in from the ground up and are fully capable of defending their Stanley Cup championship in a few months’ time. Not only did Sam Bennett notch a Gordie Howe hat-trick (a goal, assist, and fight), but Justin Sourdif picked up where Matthew Tkachuk’s six-game goal-scoring streak left off, and scored his first NHL goal.
Sourdif, the Panthers’ 87th overall selection in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, can count himself among their top prospects, and has cemented himself as the first choice call-up prospect in the event of injury or other causes of absence on the NHL roster. Sourdif will likely crack the Panthers’ roster full-time very soon, and is definitely a player to keep an eye on in the coming season.
Don’t Forget the Goalies!
Not to be outdone by the goals-coring potential or defensive prowess the Panthers have fostered, the goaltending depth on this team is consistently solid. Led by Sergei Bobrovsky, their goalies in the past couple of seasons have all been more than competent. Spencer Knight is having a very solid return to form as a legitimate NHL goaltender, and could easily take the reins from “Bob” when his contract runs out in a couple seasons if his trajectory continues on its current path. This season, Knight has played in 21 games, sports a 9-8-3 record,.901 save percentage, and 3.18 goals-against average.
In seasons past, goalies like Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon – both of whom have gone on to find success with other NHL teams – backed Bobrovsky up with undeniable skill and competence.
Put simply, the Panthers bend but don’t break, even as the rumors swirl with the 2025 Trade Deadline looming in the distance. In today’s NHL, it becomes more and more evident with every passing game that it is not enough to have one or two superstars carrying a team. It is not enough to have an insanely-successful head coach if you don’t have players that can follow through or buy in to their system. It is not enough to have a group of guys that excel individually but don’t mesh well as a singular, cohesive unit. What counts in today’s NHL – and what really wins Stanley Cups – is resilience and cohesion, and the Panthers have both in droves.
