The re-emergence of the Florida Panthers

For a team that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in only their third year of existence (way back in 1996), the Florida Panthers have been in a playoff drought ever since the 2000-01 season and no one has taken them seriously. That is until now. Having missed the post-season for ten consecutive years (the last time they were in the playoffs, the "Russian Rocket" Pavel Bure was leading the way for them with 58-goals and 36-year old Mike Vernon was in goal), which also included eight different head coaching changes during that span, the 2011-12 edition of the Florida Panthers are suddenly one of the top teams in the League and give all appearances that the years of being in the bottom-half of the Eastern Conference are finally over.



Kevin Dineen - Head Coach

 First year Panthers' head coach Kevin Dineen demands respect and accountability. It is in his nature, from the way that he played the game as a player himself, and continuing on into his role behind the bench. Dineen played parts of 19 seasons in the NHL, tallying 355-goals, 760-points and 2229 penalty-minutes in over 1100 regular season games. All in all, a very successful career as a tough, rugged player, which has continued on into his pursuits as a coach.

When his playing days ended in 2002, Dineen would eventually move onto being the head coach of the Portland Pirates in the American Hockey League in 2005 and quickly garnered accolades as a highly successful coach. In his first season alone as Portland's head coach, Dineen led the team to a 53-19-5-3 record, which is quite an accomplishment for a first year head coach. Dineen would continue to coach in Portland from 2005 through the end of the 2010-11 season, and would never once have a losing coaching record in any of those six seasons. During that time Dineen would also provide tuteledge to some of hockey's top young talent in the game today. Dustin Penner, Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Kent Huskins, Nathan Gerbe, Jhonas Enroth, Tyler Ennis and Luke Adam, among numerous others, all saw their careers advanced while playing under Dineen in Portland.

It would be no surprise that Kevin Dineen's coaching talents would become widely recognized and an NHL team would take note. Looking to make a break from their repeated years of coming up short and being lackluster, the Florida Panthers made a very wise move by naming Dineen their head coach in May of 2011. And since the start of the 2011-12 season, and Florida's almost miraculous accension in the NHL standings, it would appear that not only will the Panthers return to the playoffs but that Kevin Dineen is also an early favorite for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach.

Brian Campbell

With Dineen now at the helm, the Panthers are one of the best team's in the league this season. Here in early-mid December, the Panthers boast a record of 16-8-5 for 37-points, which is presently tied with Philadelphia for first overall in the Eastern Conference (although Philly is officially in first place by having more wins in less games) and first overall in the Southeast Division; at least six points ahead of all other teams in their division.

Perhaps even more important than Dineen's coaching success, Panthers' Executive Vice President and General Manager, Dale Tallon, has assembled a Panther's roster that is cohesive, experienced and remarkably talented. Remember, Tallon got his name on the Stanley Cup and was chiefly responsible for building the team that won the championship in Chicago with the Blackhawks in 2010. Since Tallon stepped into his present role with the Panthers after leaving Chicago in May 2010, he has acquired the main core of players that comprise the team, including Jose Theodore, Ed Jovanovski, Tomas Kopecky, Brian Campbell, Tomas Fleischmann, Scottie Upshall, Kris Versteeg, Sean Bergenheim, Marcel Goc and Matt Bradley, as well as drafting highly promising young star Erik Gudbranson. Three of those players, Campbell, Kopecky and Versteeg, won the Stanley Cup together in Chicago. The other players are a core of veterans that having been joined together, give all appearances that the Panthers are now in fact legit.

Stephen Weiss

The line of Fleischmann, Versteeg, along with ninth year Panther Stephen Weiss, are arguably the most productive line in the NHL right now. All three are averaging at least a point per game, and have combined together for 36-goals and 89-points in the 29-games that the Panthers have played so far this season. Combining these three on a forward line together with the fact that Florida has a highly offensive defense making them one of the most formidable teams in the NHL offensively. D-man Brian Campbell is presently second overall in the league for scoring amongst defensemen with 24-points in 29-games (2-goals, 22-assists). Another Florida blueliner, Jason Garrison, leads all NHL defensemen in goals scored as he has netted 9 of them already this season. Add in Dmitry Kulikov's 17-assists and 20-points in 28-games, and you also easily have a trio of the league's deadliest defense corps from the point.

Ed Jovanovski

Another marquee defenseman, but a familiar face in Florida, Ed Jovanski re-signed with the team during the past summer for a four-year term. Jovanovski was a 19-year old rookie with the Panthers in 1996 when they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they would eventually lose in four straight games to the Colorado Avalanche. The first overall draft pick by the Panthers in the 1994 draft, Jovanski played three-and-a-half seasons in the "Sunshine State" before he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks as part of the Pavel Bure deal during the 1998-99 season. Making his heralded return to the Panthers organization this season, Jovanski brings with him a resume that includes an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002 and NHL All-Star honours in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008. And at 6'2" and 210lbs., Jovanovski has always been an intimidating presence in his own zone.

Tim Kennedy

Mix in role players such as Buffalo cast-off Tim Kennedy, long-time NHL veteran of over 900-games Marco Sturm, Mike Weaver, Jack Skille, Shawn Matthias, Evgenii Davydov, Mike Santorelli, and another Stanley Cup winner in Mikael Samuelsson, the Panthers seem to have all the parts needed on both forward and defense.

The other staple to any hockey team's success is who they have in net, and Florida's goaltending tandem is a couple of old reliables. At 35 and 34 years of age respectively, Jose Theodore and Scott Clemmenson have backstopped the Panthers to their success this season. Theodore, the 2002 Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's best goaltender and the Hart Memorial Trophy winner as the League's most valuable player that same season, has registered an 11-5-3 record between the pipes, while recording 2 shutouts, a 2.17 goals-against average, as well as a .929 save-percentage. Clemmenson, standing at a record of 3-0-1 has also notched a shutout this season and has numbers of 2.23 and .913. Obviously, both goaltenders are very steady and have been playing the game long enough that Florida can rely on them wholeheartedly to continue manning the nets and winning.

Jose Theodore

When examining each facet of the 2011-12 Florida Panthers, there is no doubt that they are strong on all ends. From the leadership at the very top that both Tallon and Dineen provide, all the way down through their bench and the character and talent of the players that they have on their roster, there is little to no doubt that they will in fact end their playoff drought this season. Dare I say it, there is even potential for a Cinderella-run to the Stanley Cup like they had back in 1996. It would seem most-fitting, almost storybook-like, that with Jovanovski back with the team for one more run that it could in fact be possible. Regardless of what playoff success they may earn this year, the Florida Panthers have re-emerged and are formidable.