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Florida Panthers

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For the animal species by this name, see Florida Panther.
Florida Panthers
File:FloridaPanthers.png
ConferenceEastern
DivisionSoutheast
Founded1993
HistoryFlorida Panthers
1993-present
Home arenaBankAtlantic Center
CitySunrise, Florida
Team colorsRed, Navy, Gold and White
MediaFSN Florida
WAXY (790 AM)
Owner(s)United States Alan Cohen
United States Bernie Kosar
General managerCanada Jacques Martin
Head coachCanada Jacques Martin
CaptainFinland Olli Jokinen
Minor league affiliatesRochester Americans (AHL)
Florida Everblades (ECHL)
Stanley Cupsnone
Conference championships1995-96
Division championshipsnone

The Florida Panthers are a professional men's ice hockey team based in the Sunrise, Florida suburb of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Franchise history

Blockbuster Video magnate H. Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for his native Miami in 1992. The team played at the Miami Arena, and its first major stars were New York Rangers goaltender castoff John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Rob Niedermayer, and Scott Mellanby, who scored 30 goals. They had one of the most successful first seasons of any expansion team, finishing one point below .500 and narrowly missing out on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

After missing another close brush with the playoffs in 1995, coach Roger Neilson was fired and replaced by Doug MacLean. They then acquired Ray Sheppard from the San Jose Sharks on the trade deadline in 1996 and they looked towards the playoffs for the first time.

Also during that season, a very unusual goal celebration developed in Miami. On the night of the Panthers' '95-'96 home opener, a rat scurried across the Florida locker room. Mellanby reacted by "one-timing" the rat against the wall, killing it [1]. That night he scored two goals, which Vanbiesbrouck quipped was "a rat trick". Two nights later, as the story found its way into the world, a few fans threw rubber rats on the ice in celebration of a goal. The rubber rat count went from 16 for the third home game to over 2,000 during the playoffs. In a freak coincidence, 1996 was also year of the rat according to Chinese Astrology.

In the 1996 playoffs, as the #4 seed, the Panthers beat the Boston Bruins in 5 games, then upset the top seeded Philadelphia Flyers in six, and then the second seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in seven to reach the Stanley Cup Final. Their opponents, the Colorado Avalanche, swept the Panthers in four games.

The Panthers would begin the next season with a 17-game unbeaten streak, but due to injuries and a couple of questionable personnel moves[citation needed] (the acquisition of Kirk Muller at the trade deadline as well as the earlier trade of popular center[citation needed] Stu Barnes), Florida faded in the second half of the season, losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Wayne Gretzky-led Rangers in five games.

The 1997-98 season would be a return to mediocrity for the Panthers.[citation needed] After a 7-12-4 start, the Panthers fired coach Doug MacLean, replacing him for the season with General Manager Bryan Murray. The change didn't aid matters,[citation needed] as Florida suffered a franchise-worst 24-43-15 record, including a 15-game winless streak. This season would also mark the end of Disneyworld for Vanbiesbrouck, who in the midst of that streak was shelled by the Chicago Blackhawks and never played another game for the Panthers. He would sign with the Flyers that off-season as a free agent.

File:FloridaPanthersAlternate.png
Florida's alternate logo; a palm tree and a hockey stick crossing one another over a sun.

The Panthers moved into the National Car Rental Center (now known as BankAtlantic Center) in 1998. In 1999, they acquired Pavel Bure (the "Russian Rocket"), in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks. They reached the playoffs again in 2000, losing in a first-round sweep to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils.

The team slumped in 2000-01. The following season, 2001-02, the Panthers had their worst record ever. Bure struggled despite being reunited with his brother Valeri, and was traded to the Rangers on the 2002 trading deadline.

The Cats started coveting defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who was widely tipped to be picked first overall in 2002, around then. But controversial bench boss “Iron Mike” Keenan sent Florida's first pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who took winger Rick Nash. The Atlanta Thrashers, after secondly picking goalie Kari Lehtonen, announced that the Panthers had given them two picks to guarantee that Bouwmeester went to Miami. Bouwmeester was selected third overall. "We shouldn’t have done that ... Jay would have been number-one if we'd kept that pick,"[1] said Keenan.

In 2003, the Panthers hosted the NHL All-Star Weekend in which the Western Conference earned a 6-5 victory after the first OT shootout in All-Star history. The West overcame a four-goal outburst by Thrashers winger Dany Heatley, who took home MVP honors in his first All-Star Game.

On June 23, 2006, The Panthers were again involved in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks, sending Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek, and a sixth-round draft pick in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Auld, and Bryan Allen. Critics have blasted the move, calling it "the worst trade in the history of the NHL". Bertuzzi would later be traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the deadline for a conditional draft pick and centre Shawn Matthias.

File:Florida-panthers-07-jerseys.jpg
New 2007-08 jerseys

On June 22, 2007, the Florida Panthers were involved in yet another draft day deal involving a goalie. The Florida Panthers acquired Tomas Vokoun from the Nashville Predators in exchange for three draft picks, a 1st round pick in 2008, a second round pick in 2008, and a conditional second round pick that can be used in 2007 or 2008.

On July 22, 2007 The Florida Panthers unveiled their new jerseys to over 11,000 fans at the BankAtlantic Center Saturday afternoon during the first intermission of a Panthers Alumni game. Star forwards Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss were both in full gear to help showcase the sweater upgrades.


Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Panthers. For the full season-by-season history, see Florida Panthers seasons

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of February 6, 2007. [2]

Season GP W L T1 OTL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
2001-02 82 22 44 10 6 60 180 250 1994 4th, Southeast Did not qualify
2002-03 82 24 36 13 9 70 176 237 1127 4th, Southeast Did not qualify
2003-04 82 28 35 15 4 75 188 221 1192 4th, Southeast Did not qualify
2004-05 Season cancelled due to 2004-05 NHL Lockout
2005-061 82 37 34 - 11 85 240 257 1255 4th, Southeast Did not qualify
2006-07 82 35 31 - 16 86 247 257 1059 4th, Southeast Did not qualify
2007-08 28 12 15 - 1 25 73 81 342 N/A N/A


1 As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

Notable players

Current roster

As of December 1, 2007. [2]

Goaltenders
# Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
29 Czech Republic Tomas Vokoun R 2007 Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia
31 United States Craig Anderson L 2006 Park Ridge, Illinois
Defensemen
# Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
2 Slovakia Branislav Mezei L 2002 Nitra, Czechoslovakia
4 Canada Jay Bouwmeester L 2002 Edmonton, Alberta
5 Canada Bryan Allen – A L 2006 Kingston, Ontario
7 Canada Steve Montador R 2005 Vancouver, British Columbia
21 Canada Cory Murphy (IR) R 2007 Kanata, Ontario
22 Canada Jassen Cullimore L 2007 Simcoe, Ontario
24 Belarus Ruslan Salei L 2006 Minsk, U.S.S.R.
26 Canada Mike Van Ryn (IR) R 2003 London, Ontario
27 United States Noah Welch (IR) L 2007 Brighton, Massachusetts
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
9 Canada Stephen Weiss – A C L 2001 Toronto, Ontario
10 United States David Booth LW L 2004 Detroit, Michigan
11 Canada Gregory Campbell C L 2002 London, Ontario
12 Finland Olli Jokinen – C C L 2000 Kuopio, Finland
14 Czech Republic Radek Dvorak RW R 2007 Tábor, Czechoslovakia
15 Slovakia Jozef Stumpel RW R 2005 Nitra, Czechoslovakia
16 Canada Nathan Horton RW R 2003 Welland, Ontario
17 Canada Garth Murray LW L 2007 Regina, Saskatchewan
18 Finland Ville Peltonen LW L 2006 Vantaa, Finland
20 Slovakia Richard Zednik LW L 2007 Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
53 Canada Brett McLean (IR) C L 2007 Comox, British Columbia
54 Czech Republic Kamil Kreps C R 2003 Litomerice, Czechoslovakia
57 Canada Anthony Stewart RW R 2004 LaSalle, Quebec
85 Czech Republic Rostislav Olesz LW L 2004 Bílovec, Czechoslovakia

Team captains

Honored Members

Hall of Famers: The Panthers first Head Coach Roger Neilson (1993-95), was inducted in 2002 (as a Builder), for his NHL coaching career. The Panthers first President & General Manager Bill Torrey (1993-2001), was inducted in 1995 (as a Builder), for his NHL team management career.

Retired numbers: The Panthers have not retired a number from their team. However, Wayne Gretzky's number 99 was retired league-wide on February 6, 2000.

First-round draft picks

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Panthers player

Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
George Bard* C 508 165 207 372 .73
Scott Mellanby RW 552 157 197 354 .64
Viktor Kozlov C 414 101 190 291 .70
Robert Svehla D 573 61 229 290 .51
Rob Niedermayer C 518 101 165 266 .51
Pavel Bure RW 223 152 99 251 1.13
Ray Whitney LW 273 97 130 227 .83
Radek Dvorak* RW 359 70 97 167 .47
Bill Lindsay RW 506 63 98 161 .32
Nathan Horton* C 231 80 68 148 .63

NHL awards and trophies

Prince of Wales Trophy

Rocket Richard Trophy

Franchise individual records

References

  1. ^ McDonell, Chris. (2005). Hockey's Greatest Stars: Legends and Young Lions. Firefly Books. p. 135. ISBN 1-55407-038-4.
  2. ^ Hockeydb.com, Florida Panthers season statistics and records.

See also

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