Florida Panthers

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1993
• Home arena: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Florida
• Owner: Sunrise Sports & Entertainment
• Team colors: Red, blue, and flat gold

Overview

The Florida Panthers are an American ice hockey team that plays in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was established in 1993 as one of two expansion teams that year, the other being the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (later known as the Anaheim Ducks). Its home ice is located outside Miami, Florida, making the Panthers the southernmost team in the league. The team takes its name from the endangered cat species native to the Florida Everglades and financially supports efforts to protect the animals. The Panthers’ jerseys also pay tribute to the Florida cat. In 2024, the Panthers won the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in a dramatic seven-game series.

History

The Panthers are the second of Florida’s two NHL teams. The Tampa Bay Lightning played its first game in early October of the 1992–1993 season, just months before Wayne Huizenga was granted the franchise for the Panthers. Huizenga also owned Blockbuster Video, Waste Management, and the Miami Dolphins and the following year established the Florida Marlins (later renamed the Miami Marlins). His experience with the Dolphins convinced Huizenga that he wanted to bring professional hockey to Miami. He was awarded the NHL franchise on December 10, 1992. The team would share the Miami Arena with the National Basketball Association (NBA) team the Miami Heat, an arrangement that continued for the Panthers’ first five seasons.

In April of the following year, Huizenga held a press conference to announce the new team’s name. He also informed the public that former Philadelphia Flyers great Bobby Clarke would be the team’s general manager and New York Islander’s general manager Bill Torrey would become the new president of the Panthers’ organization. Innovative and experienced, Roger Neilson was hired as the coach.

The team was created from players acquired through an expansion draft that allowed the Panthers and the Mighty Ducks to choose selected players from the established NHL teams. They were also able to choose young players through the 1993 Entry Draft. The Panthers posted a first-season record of 33 wins, 34 losses, and 17 ties. At the time, their 33 wins tied with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the other 1993 expansion team, for the best record by a first-year team. Much of this was attributed to the “trap defense” Neilson had originated. The “trap” is a method of surrounding the offensive players as they move through the neutral zone to reduce their chances of carrying the puck into their offensive zone. The strategy helps a less-skilled team balance the scales against a more offensively talented team. However, the Panthers failed to make the playoffs during the first two seasons, and Neilson was fired and replaced by Doug MacLean, who had been the team’s director of player development.

The 1994–1995 season was shortened by a lockout, but 1995–1996 was a much better year for the Panthers. It started with an odd locker-room incident that would give rise to a fan tradition lasting for decades. On the opening night of the 1995–1996 season, Panthers’ forward Scott Mellanby found a live rat in his locker. He went on to score two goals that night, leading to a Panthers’ victory. When the story broke, fans began bringing rubber rats to the games and tossing them onto the ice whenever the team won at home.

The fans had plenty of opportunities to toss the toy rats onto the ice that year when the Panthers had 41 wins and 31 losses, advancing to the playoffs. After eliminating the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs, they advanced to play against the Flyers in the second round. The Panthers won that series four games to two, which was considered an upset. This allowed them to advance to play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals. The Panthers emerged victorious after a seven-game series to move into their first Stanley Cup final series.

Their luck ran out against the Colorado Avalanche. That team, which was the former Quebec Nordiques franchise before it relocated from Quebec to Colorado, won the series in four games. However, the Panthers made their mark by setting what was then the record for most post-season wins by an expansion team in their first playoff, a record that would stand until it was broken in 2017–2018 by the Vegas Golden Knights in their first season.

The Panthers started the next season strong but faded. The slump continued until 1998 when they moved into a new arena. The new facility underwent several name changes, from National Car Rental Center to Office Depot Center to BankAtlantic Center before it became known as the BB&T Center. That year also marked the acquisition of Pavel Bure, a future Hall of Fame right winger from Russia. The team made it to the playoffs in 1999–2000 but fell in the first round to the New Jersey Devils, who eventually became that season’s Stanley Cup champions.

Following another lackluster season in 2000–2001, the team was sold to a new group led by Alan Cohen. Another poor season followed. The rest of the decade was a series of trades made to try to improve the team. In 2009–2010, the Panthers missed the playoffs for the ninth consecutive year, becoming the first NHL team in history that had not changed cities to fail to advance to the post-season. In 2011–2012, the Panthers finished first in their conference and made the playoffs but were eliminated in the conference quarterfinals by the New Jersey Devils. The Panthers also finished first in the conference in 2015–2016 but lost in the first round to the New York Islanders. These two seasons were the bright spots in a long stretch that saw the team miss the playoffs every other season in the 2000s and 2010s.

In 2020 the Panthers hired general manager Bill Zito, who quickly initiated a rebuild of the team. A successful 2021–22 season earned the Panthers their first Presidents' Trophy, which is awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season. However, the Panthers were swept in the second round of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning. After a slow start to the 2022–23 season, the Panthers finished with a record of 42–32–8, which earned them a wild card spot in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. Facing the Boston Bruins in the first round, who were coming off a historic season that set the record for most regular season wins and regular season points, the underdog Panthers won three straight games to upset the Bruins in a game seven victory. The Panthers went on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals, where they were ultimately defeated in five games by the Vegas Golden Knights.

After an excellent 2023–24 season, the Panthers put on an equally strong postseason performance, defeating the Lightning, Bruins, and New York Rangers to advance to their second consecutive Stanley Cup Final. Facing the Edmonton Oilers, the Panthers won the first three games of the series before dropping the next three. Facing elimination, the Panthers defeated the Oilers in Game 7 to secure the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup.

Notable players

Several former Panthers players and members of their management have been recognized in the NHL Hall of Fame. They include Bure, Ed Belfour, Dino Ciccarelli, Igor Larionov, and Joe Nieuwendyk. Members of the team’s original management—Coach Neilson and President Torrey—have also been enshrined in the Hockey Builders Hall of Fame.

Bure’s thirteen-year NHL career included four years with the Panthers. He represented the team in the 2000 and 2001 All-Star games and set the team record for most goals in a season, with 59 scored in 2000–2001.

Goalie Belfour played the last season of his nineteen-year NHL career in a Panthers’ uniform. He appeared in 58 games and recorded 27 wins and a 2.77 goals-against average. During his time with the team, he recorded 27 consecutive starts, then a Panthers record, and tied another Hall of Fame goaltender, Tony Esposito, for eighth place on the all-time shut-outs list with 76.

Ciccarelli played part of the last two seasons of his twenty-one-year NHL career with the Panthers. During a game in November of his second season in 1998, he sustained a back injury that kept him out of play for the remainder of the year. He retired following the season. Nieuwendyk also played the final two years of his career in Florida, playing just 70 games over two seasons and retiring in the middle of December 2006 because of back pain. Larionov played part of the 2000–2001 season with Florida, which reunited him with Bure, his former Vancouver Canucks teammate. Although they had been an impressive team in Vancouver, the magic did not rematerialize in Florida and he was traded mid-season.

Aleksander Barkov, after being drafted by the Panthers in 2013, quickly developed a reputation as one of the best forwards in the league. He was named captain in 2018, and soon became the franchise leader in both all-time goals and points.

The Panthers have retired several numbers. Two are for members of their original management. They are Huizenga, the team’s first owner, and Torrey, who served as president and general manager.

The first player to have his number retired was goalie Roberto Luongo, who played eleven of his nineteen seasons in the NHL with the Panthers in two stints. He first joined the team in 2000 and stayed through the end of the 2005–2006 season before moving to Vancouver for eight years. Luongo returned to Florida in 2013 and played the final six seasons of his career there before retiring in 2019. At one point, he held third place for wins behind legendary goalies Martin Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551), with 489 career victories. His 1,044 career-game total was at one point second only to Brodeur’s 1,266. He later became a member of the Panthers’ front office, earning a Stanley Cup with the team in 2024.

Bibliography

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