Offseason Summary & 2022-23 Outlook of the Florida Panthers

We are in the dog days of summer, and there is little to report in the way of news, trades, & signings. So now that 98% of the pieces have fallen into place for the upcoming campaign, we can look at each club's additions & subtractions and assess what can be expected of them. Most teams are competing for the Stanley Cup, others are at one point or another of a rebuild, retool, or a straight up tank job. With 32 teams to get to, we're going to start with the Atlantic Division. Next up, the Florida Panthers.

The reigning Presidents Trophy Winners will look differently in 2022-23. The Panthers' subtractions list is long: Jonathan Huberdeau, Mackenzie Weegar, Claude Giroux, Joe Thornton, Mason Marchment, Noel Acciari, Ben Chiarot, Marcus Nutivaara, and Robert Hagg all left the Panthers ranks this summer.

In turn, they have added the following: Matthew Tkachuk, Marc Staal, Eric Staal (PTO), Nick Cousins, Alex Lyon, Colin White, Rudolfs Balcers, Michael Del Zotto.

The Panthers were straight up the best team in the regular season last year. I fail to see how parting ways with Jonathan Huberdeau, Claude Giroux, and Mackenzie Weegar make them a better team, but that is just me. Matthew Tkachuk is great, but the Panthers are currently acting at a net-negative heading into '22-23.

What made the Panthers such a dominant team was their offense & their ability to outpace opponents. Well, they just lost a 100-point player & Claude Giroux, who is still a top NHL talent:

Without either of those two (plus Marchment & Acciari) the Panthers' offense will not have the same bite to it. It will no doubt be good, but it won't be the same as the group who just set the NHL's regular season team goal scoring record. That is not all...

Florida's defense was their glaring weakness all season & proved to be their downfall. And there is no real case to be made that they improved in that area. In fact, a case could be made that they got worse; much worse. They replaced Weegar (one of the NHL's best two-way defenseman), Chiarot and Nutivaara with 35-year old Marc Staal & Michael Del Zotto. And with Sergei Bobrovsky still making $10 million to be a near-replacement level goaltender, the Panthers defense will surely look worse in 2022-23.

Quite frankly, this team could miss the playoffs by 15 points and not surprise me. They have gotten worse in every area of the roster, and still have -$3 million in cap space. After an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning in last year's second round, the Panthers needed a shake-up. This is true.

But I don't see any scenario where this team as good as or better than last year's. And there will be some serious competition in this Atlantic Division next season, which is why I'm bearish on the Panthers. I predict the Panthers will miss the playoffs & will be usurped by either the Ottawa Senators or the Detroit Red Wings.

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