Even with playoff spot at risk, pressure is low for Panthers
Back-to-back Stanley Cup championships will buy any team a good measure of grace. So for the Florida Panthers, who are currently tied for last place in the Eastern Conference, alarm bells haven’t begun to ring just yet. But the longer into the season we go without Florida working their way back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture, the more doubtful it becomes that they’ll be able to flip the proverbial switch when needed.
Of course, we’ve yet to see the Panthers at full health this season. Star winger Matthew Tkachuk remains out after offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia, but is expected back at some point. There’s an implicit expectation that Florida will kick into high gear once Tkachuk returns, but captain Aleksander Barkov will miss the entire regular season with a torn ACL and MCL, so they’ll still be a compromised version of their best selves.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed what the appropriate level of concern should be for the Panthers’ slow start.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Florida Panthers, they’re sitting at a .521 points percentage this season. They are six points out of a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. They’re closer to being down with the Torontos and Buffalos than they are to being in the mix and holding onto a playoff spot. A lot of people are going to go, “They’ve got to get healthy. Once they get healthy, they’ll be fine.” They’re getting Matt Tkachuk at some point, they’re not getting Aleksander Barkov back during the regular season this year. Similar to Utah, if you’re just sitting there as Florida and kind of just waiting, “Oh, once we get Tkachuk back we’ll turn on the jets and go,” what’s going to happen when you need to leapfrog seven or eight teams to get into a playoff spot once Matt Tkachuk comes back?
Carter Hutton: There’s teams that get a leash, and there’s teams that don’t get a leash. And this is a team gets a leash from me in the sense of, they’ve been to three Cup finals, they’re back-to-back Cup champions. There’s that winning pedigree that suppresses my worry a little bit. When we talk about Toronto’s struggles, or Buffalo’s struggles, or Utah, they don’t get a pass because they haven’t done anything. This is a team where, you would think as things start to come together and they start to get back into it, that will help.
It is concerning when you look at the lack of scoring up front. Brad Marchand is leading your team. He’s had a great year, he’s got 15 goals, 12 assists, 27 points. And Sam Reinhart has continued to score, and that’s without Barkov. He’s got 13 goals. But then after that it dries up a little bit. That’s where it starts to get concerning when you look at the depth. I don’t see Reinhart dropping off, he’s just a guy that can find the back of the net. But can Brad Marchand keep clipping along at this pace at his age? I just don’t know if that’s sustainable. That’s when I start to get worried. (Sergei) Bobrovsky, he’s proven me wrong so many times. He hasn’t been great. I think maybe we start to see a little bit more of (Daniil) Tarasov, because he has played well. He’s at a .907 (save percentage) in eight games played. So maybe you start to sprinkle in a little bit more of him.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…