Colby Guy
For the first time in three seasons, the Florida Panthers hit a major road block early on in the regular season.
After leaving a two-game road trip against two teams who were thought to be NHL bottom feeders without a point, the Panthers head into their final game in October at 4-3-1.
Is it time to panic?
We take a look at what the Panthers’ fanbase has to say in the third edition of the Florida Panthers Temperature Check to find out.
Just as the first two went, I pulled hot takes I received on Twitter and assign them a score of 1 to 100 — with 100 being a scorching hot take and 1 being very reasonable.
This will be a monthly feature on FHN, so if you do not want to miss out on the next one, follow me on Twitter at @ColbyDGuy.
Let’s jump right in, shall we?
“Fire [Paul] Maurice” – Cats Maniac
Heat Index: 96
Boy, that escalated quickly.
I am in the camp that it takes at least two months of regular season hockey for a system to set in. And so far, despite the 4-3-1 record, I think there has been a lot of buy-in toward that system.
Florida’s forwards have become stronger in the neutral zone, creating turnovers and rush opportunities from that emphasis on defense. It has not translated to wins just yet.
They dominated possession against Philadelphia by doing this, but just could not beat a red-hot Carter Hart.
In due time, there will be more games like the two games against the New York Islanders where they were able to compete in a slower-paced game and grind out goals the way they did.
If the Panthers are still hovering around .500 in January, this take can start have legs to it.
But until then, his system needs time to breathe.
“With Aaron Ekblad coming back and the majority of the d core breaking out, the panthers have a top 10 defense.” – Wes McCauley
Heat Index: 56
For this take to hold up long term, Josh Mahura will have to continue to be what he has been so far for the Panthers: an absolute gem of a find.
The main concern for Florida following the Matthew Tkachuk trade was finding a legitimate second-pairing defenseman to take Gus Forsling’s spot after he made the move to MacKenzie Weegar’s place on the top pairing.
So far, he has absolutely proven that he could do that.
He possesses a lot of the same qualities that made Forsling a great partner for Radko Gudas. He is a good puck mover and a quality skater who is not afraid to jump into the offensive play before quickly transitioning back to defensive play.
So far, he fits the system. It’s just a matter of if his level of success can continue to hold up.
As for where it would rank in the Top 10 if Mahura is what he appears to be?
Colorado, Nashville, Carolina, Calgary, Vegas, St. Louis and the Islanders all have much deeper groups and would top Florida’s current group regardless.
The battle for the 7-10 spots would likely come from which of the depth pieces of the Rangers, Lightning, Bruins and Panthers step up to fill their roles. The Sabres, Wild, Stars and Blue Jackets also can step up depending on the emergence of some young pieces.
Ultimately, it would depend on how the bottom pair works out.
Marc Staal has lost a lot of one-on-one battles so far this season and has been a weak link. Florida would need someone like Matt Kiersted to step up and take that role while Staal settles into a seventh D-Man role — or for Staal to improve — if they would like to be in that conversation.
“Once Barkov gets his first, he goes on a tear and wins the Rocket. (Granted he stays healthy)” – Tyler Procyk
Heat Index: 42
Going into the season, I agreed with this take heavily but watching Connor McDavid play early on, it certainly looks like this is the year he wins his first Rocket Richard Trophy.
He has looked as dominant as ever and can beat a goaltender in so many different ways. With him on his game, it is hard to see him slowing down at any point.
Barkov is a dominant enough player to jump into the conversation when he hits his stride, but with McDavid already jumping out to an eight-goal start, it will be tough.
”My hot take hasn’t changed in a couple seasons: the Panthers have not been able to replace Keith Yandle on the power play.
The last time it was really good, he could feed Ekblad on the circle for one-timers.
Since then, he’s had to play point and that shot threat is gone.” – Florida Wawa Pumpkin
Heat Index: 36
Watching how the power play operated last season, it felt very apparent that the Panthers were missing a bonafide power play quarterback.
Andrew Brunette’s experiment of using Aaron Ekblad as the power play quarterback made things a lot more lethargic than it was when Yandle was slinging him one-timers with ease. Especially given the number of netfront guys used on the power play typically meant things funneled through his shot.
Even with the bad returns thus far, I think having Brandon Montour on that top unit has helped to an extent. The power play has been missing Ekblad and his shot to get things going, but Montour is a great distributor out of that quarterback position.
Only time will tell if this sticks, but Ekblad’s return should help things out.
“This team is different. The heart and soul went with Huby and Weegs” – Bowman Turner
Heat Index: 50
Yes, a team is definitely going to look different after shipping out the face of the franchise and a star defenseman but it is not different in a completely negative context.
With the hand this team was dealt with Mason Marchment, Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot all becoming free agents and Keith Yandle’s buy out creating a huge salary cap problem, they did alright for themselves.
Rudolfs Balcers has gelled right in to a top-six role and has gained a lot of confidence in the offensive zone since arriving. Eetu Luostarinen also made a significant jump to help fill the void Marchment’s departure left on the third line.
Adding in Mahura’s contributions to the second pairing, Bill Zito did well for himself in filling roles with the little amount of cap space he had.
And the different look Matthew Tkachuk gives this team will ultimately help the team down the line.
The way he can grind through a slowed-down game and make something out of nothing will help Florida when it matters.
It’s all about getting there…
”Anton Lundell should be the No. 2 center.” — Kevin Smith
Heat Index: 15
On most teams, Lundell certainly has the skillset to be a No. 2 center.
For now, it all boils down to line chemistry. And the chemistry between him, Luostarinen and Colin White has been on display.
Bennett and Balcers have worked well together on that second line — especially while Tkachuk was on it — but Sam Reinhart moving to that line could eventually lead to more changes down the road as well.
As long as that Luostarinen-Lundell-White line is working, it should be together, but he is more than capable of moving up the lineup.
”Bob and Knight should be a 50/50 split in starts moving forward, maybe leaning more towards riding Knight when he’s hot.” – Serdar Sirin
Heat Index: 5
Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight splitting the crease more evenly felt like an inevitability going into the season. With the way Bobrovsky played during this past road trip, it may very well happen.
Bobrovsky was always going to get a fairly long leash as the No. 1 guy after the breakout season he had, but Knight has proven that he is ready to take over the crease when necessary.
Bob will likely get the nod against the Senators, given he was the first goalie off after practice, but if he struggles there, I can see Knight getting at least two starts during the West Coast trip.