Photo Credits: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Authored By: Adrian Rosati

The big bad villains are back and better than ever.

The Florida Panthers return with a new-look team, a healthy Alexander Barkov, a healthy Matthew Tkachuk, and a newcomer in Brady Tkachuk. Add to that some familiar faces returning to the organization after a few seasons away, and there is plenty of reason for NHL fans to worry that the villain has awoken once again.

Many people are predicting that the Florida Panthers are going to be Atlantic Division champions. Some are gifting them the Presidents’ Trophy. Others are already handing them the Stanley Cup.

Me? I’m not so sure about handing anyone a trophy before the season even starts.

This is our first 84-game NHL season in some time, and plenty of these guys have already shown that deep playoff runs can take a toll on the body, as evidenced by last year’s playoff miss.

Major Additions and Subtractions

Additions:

• F Brady Tkachuk — Acquired from Ottawa
• G Jacob Markstrom — Acquired from New Jersey
• G Akira Schmid — Acquired from Vegas
• D Radko Gudas — Signed in free agency

Subtractions:

• G Sergei Bobrovsky — Departed via free agency
• F Evan Rodrigues — Traded to New Jersey
• F Jesper Boqvist — Traded to New Jersey
• F A.J. Greer — Traded to Anaheim

Evaluation of the Offseason

Does life get any better for Bill Zito than quite literally responding to missing the playoffs with a monster of an offseason designed to put the Panthers right back into Stanley Cup contention?

With the acquisition of Brady Tkachuk being the story of the offseason, he brings a physical playing style that will pair nicely with Florida’s mentality. At this point, you could occasionally just pair Marchand and Brady together and create an absolutely insane aggravation line.

I expect Florida to be a top-five penalty-drawing team in the league as a result. Florida, despite being awful last year, was second in this category. But because Florida is Florida, they only drew one more penalty than they took.

Currently, PuckPedia has Brady slotted on the first line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. Brady is coming off 59 points with the Sens’ top line a year ago, despite playing only 60 games due to injury.

I expect they may occasionally swap Carter Verhaeghe onto the first line for Brady or move Matthew onto the first line with Barkov and Brady from time to time.

What an insane top six.

It’s not a traditional top six built around goals, goals, and more goals, but rather a really good mix of offensive firepower and physicality. Florida has plenty of skill, but they can also make you absolutely miserable.

In net, Markstrom brings a bit of a roller coaster performance from season to season. As I just addressed in the Edmonton preview yesterday, goalies can be some voodoo sometimes.

With Markstrom, the trend has primarily been a bad year followed by a Vezina-caliber year, with a few exceptions to the rule.

Good news, Panthers fans: he is coming off a season with a 3.07 GAA and an .883 save percentage. That means, unless this year is an exception to the rule, he is due for a good season.

That said, he is 36 years old this year, so that could also mean a rapid regression is coming. To compare, he is replacing Bobrovsky, who had relatively similar numbers last season.

On a stronger Florida team, Markstrom could be the recipient of a good-team bump, which would boost his numbers simply because the team in front of him is better than what he had in New Jersey.

Gudas on the back end is a familiar face returning to the organization. We know he fits well with what Florida’s structure under Paul Maurice is all about: physicality, wearing you down, and taking advantage of open ice.

Gudas is 36 and signed a six-year deal to return to a team he played three seasons with during his previous stint.

Will he be good this upcoming year? Yes.

Is his contract cap circumvention? Also yes.

We all know that, with the physical nature of Gudas’ play style, he isn’t going to be fully healthy for the entire length of this contract. I’d be surprised to see him playing many games after Year 3 of this deal. But he already knows the culture, and he could be a pivotal piece in the room.

On paper, does Florida look insane?

Yeah.

Will their additions make them insanely better?

Also yes.

This offseason was a straight-up win for Bill Zito and the Panthers alike.

First 10 Games

The Florida Panthers open their season on Tuesday, September 29th, at 5:00 p.m. ET in Raleigh, North Carolina, against the Hurricanes.

This will be the banner-raising ceremony for the defending champions and will officially open the year. This game will kick off the entire season and will be nothing short of emotional, physical, and must-watch TV.

There’s a belief that, in order for Carolina to win another championship, it would be much more respected if they went through a healthy Florida team. They will have their shot to prove themselves right out of the gate.

I think Florida wins this game, but with two more matchups later in the season, we’ll see who wins the remaining two.

The Panthers have two divisional matchups, two Metropolitan Division matchups, and six Western Conference matchups in their first 10 games.

They have four games right out of the gate, including the California road trip that comes after Carolina. With some of those teams being pretty good, it could be a mixed bag. At the very least, it’s good to get that road trip out of the way early in the year rather than later.

With seven road games in the first 10 games, it’s definitely a disadvantage. But with the home games coming later in the year, it could actually become more of an advantage as players inevitably deal with injuries and fatigue.

I have the Florida Panthers opening their season at 7-3.

I have them losing to San Jose, Minnesota, and Buffalo.

San Jose is going to be elite, and to open up a road trip on the West Coast after an emotional first game in Carolina, I could see San Jose getting the edge.

Minnesota is stacked and shows no signs of slowing down. If it’s a coin flip, even with Florida at home, I think Minnesota can win a close one.

And then there’s Buffalo.

Buffalo is a road game at 1:00 p.m. ET. I think that could be problematic, as Buffalo has been a really good home team. After having the home opener and then immediately getting back on the road for this one, it could be tough for Florida to get their legs going.

Florida is going to cruise through these 10 games because, honestly, their first 10 games are mostly against weaker teams: Columbus, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, and Ottawa (who have regressed significantly).

That’s five wins right there.

My Prediction?

I think the Florida Panthers will finish 3rd in the Atlantic Division.

Listen, Florida doesn’t care about the regular season.

They just need a ticket into the playoffs, and they can go head-to-head against anybody.

My reservations about putting them higher primarily relate to their history, especially when they repeated as Cup champions and settled for third in the division that season. That was a team that finished 14 points worse in the regular season compared to the year before, but all that mattered to them was getting into the dance.

Sure, that’s how many teams see it, but not many teams can just cruise into a playoff spot quite like Florida can.

The other concern is the injury bug.

They dealt with major injuries last year. If those injuries get re-aggravated, as can happen with any previous injury, that could provide setbacks and prevent them from competing for the division lead or even second place in the Atlantic.

The Panthers are going to be good. Really good.

But I’m not handing them the division, the Presidents’ Trophy, or the Stanley Cup just yet.