NHL Team Guide: Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers are one of the younger franchises in the NHL having been founded in 1993. The team played its inaugural season in 1993-94 and quickly made a name for itself by making the Stanley Cup Finals in 1995-96 just the team’s third year in the league.
The Panthers do not have a long history like some of their NHL competition, but they have a rather large fan base in Florida. Fans can watch the Florida Panthers TV schedule a variety of ways. The Panthers are occasionally featured on national broadcasts on NBC or NBCSN. Hardcore fans can watch the complete Florida schedule on FOX Sports Florida. Games are also available via live stream on NHL.com.
NHL Standings
The Panthers were an expansion team in 1993 and were admitted to the league as members of the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. Despite a number of realignments and new expansion teams joining the league in the years since, the Florida remains a member of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. The Panthers are one of eight teams – Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Toronto are the others – in the Atlantic Division and one of 16 in the Eastern Conference.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Florida began to win quickly with a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division in just its third year of existence (1995-96). The Panthers would then do the unthinkable and advance the whole way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately, Florida was swept in four games by Colorado.
Since advancing to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup appearance, Florida has only been to the postseason four times. The Panthers have won two division titles (2011-12 and 2015-16). The ’95-’96 season was the only conference championship in franchise history.
The Panthers Home
When the Panthers began play in 1993, the team played at the Miami Arena but relocated to its current home, the BB&T Center in 1998. The BB&T Center is located north of Miami in Sunrise, Florida. With hockey seating for 19,250, the Panthers new home is the largest indoor arena in Florida.
Best Panthers
The Panthers have an affiliation with six former players that have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. None of the six spent the bulk of their careers with the Panthers. In their short history, Florida has produced some very good players. One was Olli Jokinen, the franchise’s leading career scorer.
Jokinen did two stints in Florida, the first from 2000 to 2004 and the second from 2005 to 2008. In those seven seasons, Jokinen achieved franchise-bests in goals with 188 and points with 419.
Stephen Weiss is second on the Panthers’ career scoring list with 394 points. Weiss spent eight years playing for Florida. His best season was in 2009-10 when he scored a career-high 28 goals and had 60 points.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov still play for Florida and will likely surpass Weiss and Jokinen. Huberdeau is currently third in career points with 359 during his seven-year career with the Panthers. Barkov is fifth on the list with 345 career points. Barkov has played six years in Florida.
Author: Dan Anderson