Colby Guy
Despite a disappointing end to the season, the Florida Panthers wrapped up their best regular-season campaign in franchise history and won their first playoff round in 26 years.
With that came a lot of surprises out of the 2021-22 season.
Sam Reinhart hit the coveted 82-point mark during his first season in South Florida while Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Anthony Duclair (among others) each hit career-bests in goals and points.
A Florida coach ended up finishing second in the Jack Adams Award — and it was not Joel Quenneville.
Andrew Brunette, who took over on an interim basis, was announced as the NHL’s Coach of the Year runners-up on Thursday.
I tried penning my predictions as to how I would be handing these out at the beginning of the season and … let’s just say some of them were very, very wrong.
Others were exactly as expected.
As the PHWA does when handing out end-of-season awards, these are strictly regular season awards, so playoff performances do not count toward my selections.
Then again, other than Carter Verhaeghe’s performance in the first round and Sergei Bobrovsky’s in the second, it’s not like anyone’s playoff performance helped their case for any of these awards.
Without further adieu, here are my picks for the Panthers’ end-of-season awards:
CALDER TROPHY: ANTON LUNDELL
Pre-season Prediction: Spencer Knight
Lundell had a very short preseason after sustaining an injury during rookie camp, but he took his opportunity and ran with it as soon as he made his NHL debut on Oct. 14.
In that game, the Panthers logged nine penalties and Lundell immediately settled into his role as a stalwart on Florida’s penalty kill and secured his spot as the team’s third-line center.
He ended the season with 18 goals and 44 points in 65 games and would have been a top contender for the NHL’s Calder Trophy had he not missed 17 games due to various injuries throughout the season.
Even with the injuries, he finished fifth in points and sixth in goals among rookies while being arguably the best defensive rookie forward in the league.
Even if he is not taking home the real trophy, the 20-year-old has a bright future ahead of him.
NORRIS TROPHY: AARON EKBLAD
Pre-season Prediction: Aaron Ekblad
Although he missed the final 20 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury, Ekblad picked up right back where he left off before his 2020-21 season ended on a similar note.
At the time he left the Florida lineup, he ranked fourth among NHL defensemen in goals (15) and fifth in points (57) while showing even more fluidity in his skating and his defensive zone game.
For the second straight year, he was right up there with the best just before a season-ending lower-body injury took him out of the running for the Norris Trophy.
Gus Forsling stepped up and took the mantle as Florida’s No. 1 defenseman with Ekblad out, leading all defensemen in goals (eight) and tying for 16th in points (13) while providing the smooth transitional play and swift skating ability he has always had.
While his performance made it close and his value to the Panthers continues to shine as time goes on, Ekblad earned the nod with his play earlier in the season.
I do have a feeling Forsling will continue to challenge Ekblad for that title as long as he’s here, however.
SELKE TROPHY: SASHA BARKOV
Pre-season Prediction: Sasha Barkov
Barkov picked up right back where he left off after winning the Selke Trophy last season, notching his second-straight nomination during the 2021-22 season.
Despite missing 15 games, Barkov was very much himself in the defensive zone despite suffering two separate injuries in the middle of the season.
Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen both put up a very good fight after both breakout stars became staples on the penalty kill and made big plays on defense time and time again, but Barkov’s impact still gave him the nod from both the PHWA and myself.
He might not win the actual award due to his injuries, but that’s for us to find out on Sunday.
At the end of the day, Barkov is a Selke finalist.
VEZINA TROPHY: SERGEI BOBROVSKY
Pre-season Prediction: Spencer Knight
After a shaky performance in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it looked like Sergei Bobrovsky losing the net to Spencer Knight would be an inevitability.
It was not.
Bobrovsky bounced back this season, boasting a 39-7-3 record with a .913/2.67, and for a while, it looked like the Panthers could not take him out of the net.
He played so well for the Panthers that Spencer Knight was sent to the Charlotte Checkers for a couple of stints while he was hitting his groove from Jan. 1 to Mar 10, when he started 21 of 26 games and went 17-3-1 with a .916/2.63.
He looked closer and closer to his Vezina Trophy-winning form during the 2021-22 season and he looks to grow closer to it next season.
MAURICE “ROCKET” RICHARD TROPHY: SASHA BARKOV
Pre-season prediction: Carter Verhaeghe
Barkov did not let his injury troubles hold him back this season…
From the time he re-entered the Florida lineup on Dec. 29 to the end of the season, he put up 29 goals in 51 games, which was tied for 11th in the league in that span.
He finished the season with a career-high 39 goals and could have hit the 40 mark had he not sat out the last two games of the regular season.
Of course, having him healthy for the playoffs was more important than hitting that plateau.
ART ROSS TROPHY: JONATHAN HUBERDEAU
Pre-season Prediction: Jonathan Huberdeau
Jonathan Huberdeau finished second in the actual Art Ross Trophy race, finishing eight points behind Connor McDavid with a 115-point campaign.
On April 21, Huberdeau found himself tied with McDavid for the league lead with 113 points, but the Oilers star exploded for 10 points in the last four games of the season.
Huberdeau only scored another two points in two games before sitting out the final two games of the regular season.
Still, Huberdeau became the first player in franchise history to hit the 100-point mark in a season, broke his own record for most single-season assists in Panthers history, and became the first Panther to score both 500 points and 600 points in the same season.
That is pretty strong.
HART TROPHY: JONATHAN HUBERDEAU
Pre-season prediction: Sasha Barkov
Along with the accolades mentioned in Huberdeau’s Art Ross nod, he also became a more complete player defensively and developed his physical game.
He played full-time on the penalty kill for the first time in his career and helped the Panthers out when they needed him the most, especially when they were missing both Ekblad and Barkov for extended periods of time throughout the season.
He was the most consistent player on the team and his numbers speak for themselves, he was pretty darn important to the team.