Florida Panthers (1993-Present)

Historical Moments:
1993/94: A year after the NHL first skated into the Sunshine state; a team is added to the Miami area known as the Florida Panthers. With NHL limiting teams to protecting 1 goalie the Panthers were guaranteed some good players, and they were able to land John Vanbiesbrouck a former Vezina Winner. On October 6th the Panthers play their first game skating to a 4-4 tie with the Blackhawks in Chicago. Three days later they would win their first game beating the cross state Lightning 2-0 before a record crowd of 27,227 in Tamp Bay. However the Panthers would lose their home coming at the Miami Arena 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 12th. The expansion Panthers would competitive hockey all season just missing the playoffs by 1 point with a solid 33-34-17 record, the most successful season by a first-year NHL team.

1994/95: The start of the Panther second season is delayed by a 4-month lockout that wipes out half the season. The Panthers would once again battle to the end of the season for the last playoff spot in the East. However, they would fall 1 point short again with a 20-22-6 record. Despite the quick success Coach Roger Neilson is fired, and replaced by Doug MacLean.

1995/96: After just missing the playoffs in their first 2 seasons the Panthers jump out of the gate quickly posting the best record in the East before the All-Star Break as first year Coach Dou MacLean is chosen to coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars. The Panthers would cool off a bit in the 2nd half as they finished in 3rd place with a solid 41-31-10 that earned them their first playoff berth. Along the way fans began throwing rubber rats on the ice after a story came out about a rat being smacked with a hockey stick in the team's locker room at the Miami Arena. In the playoffs the Panther would get off to a fast start grabbing the first 3 games against the Boston Bruins before winning the series in 5 games on a dramatic 3rd period goal by Bill Lindsay. In the 2nd round the Panthers would rally from a 2-1 deficit with 2 straight overtime wins on goals by Dave Lowry and Mike Hough to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in 6 games to reach the Eastern Conference Finals. In the Eastern Conference Finals the Panthers would have to rally again winning Game 6 at home 4-3 to force a 7th game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In Game 7 at Pittsburgh John Vanbiesbrouk had another solid game limiting the highflying Penguins to 1 goal as the Panthers moved on to the Stanley Cup Finals with a 3-1 victory. Facing the Colorado Avalanche in the Finals the Panthers were put themselves in an early hole dropping the first 2 games on the road. They would not do much better at home losing Game 3, by a score of 3-2. Down 3-0 the Panthers would not go down without a fight as Vanbiesbrouk blanked the Avalanche in Game 4 stopping 29 shots. However the Panthers could not get anything past Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy as the game went deep into overtime. Vanbiesbrouk would stop 55 shots as the game went to a 3rd overtime. However he would not be able to stop the 56th shot a screaming slap shot from Uwe Krupp that completed the sweep for the Avalanche.

1996/97: Coming off their trip to the Stanley Cup Finals the Panthers get off to flying start as they were unbeaten in the first 12 games at 8-0-4. The Panthers would be in first place at the All-Star Break again, but down the stretch they began to struggle posting a 35-28-19 record, finishing in 3rd place. In the playoffs the Panthers would get off to a good start beating the New York Rangers in the opening game 3-0. However, the Rangers would rally to win the 4 games and end the Panthers hopes off a 2nd straight trip to the finals.

1997/98: After 4 solid seasons and 2 straight playoff appearances the Panthers experience frustration for the first time as Coach Doug MacLean is fired on November 24th with Panthers posting a record of 7-12-4. Under MacLean's replacement Bryan Murray the Panthers would not do much better finishing in 6th place with a disappointing record of 24-43-15.

1998/99: Under realignment the Panthers are moved to the newly formed Southeast Division, under new Coach Terry Murray. A new division and new coach was not the only thing that was different as the Panthers opened a brand new arena in the South Florida city of Sunrise. In their first game at the National Car Rental Center on October 9th the Panthers defeated the cross-state Tampa Bay Lighting 4-1 behind 2 goals and an assist from rookie Mark Parrish. Parrish would go on to have a stellar first month as he scored 6 goals capped by a 4-goal performance on October 30th against the Chicago Blackhawks on the road. However, come January 17th Parrish had hit the rookie wall and the Panthers were struggling. With the hopes of getting back into the playoffs the Panthers made a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks, sending Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Kevin Weekes and Mike Brown in exchange for high scoring Pavel Bure, and Bret Hedican. Bure would take off like a rocket with Panthers scoring 2 goals in his first game as a Panther on January 20th, and adding a hat trick 6 days later. In his first home game Bure would score a goal and assist the overtime winner against the Montreal Canadiens. However Bure would suffer a string of injuries as the Panthers fell short in their drive for the playoffs with a record of 30-34-18.

1999/00: In his first full season as a Panther Pavel Bure comes back from injury and has an MVP-type season scoring a league high 58 goals as the Panthers make it make back to the playoffs by finishing in 2nd place with a solid record of 43-36-6-6. Along the way Bure wins the All-Star Game MVP and record 4 hat tricks, and is a finalist for the Hart Trophy. However, in the playoffs Bure would be shut down by the New Jersey Devils as the Panthers are swept in 4 straight games.

2000/01: The Panthers get off to a slow start with a rash of early season injuries as Coach Terry Murray is replace by Duane Sutter after a 6-18-7-5. Under Sutter the Panthers would continue to struggle posting a record of 22-38-13-9 that had them in 3rd place. Despite the disappointing season Pavel Bure has another stellar 59-goal season. Following the season the Panthers get a change in ownership as group of 8 primary investors, led by Alan P. Cohen, CEO of generic drug maker Andrx Corp., purchases the Panthers from Boca Resorts, Inc.

2001/02: The Panthers began the season with a load optimism as Pavel Bure is joined by his brother Valeri. However, when the Panthers struggled at the start of the season, the new ownership decides to completely rebuild. In December the team would get a new GM in Chuck Fletcher and a new coach in Mike Keenan. Under Keenan the team continued to struggle, as the rebuilding began with Pavel Bure being traded to the New York Rangers for Filip Novak, Igor Ulanov and draft picks on March 18th. The Panthers would go on to finish the season with a record of 22-44-10-6 finishing in 4th place. Following the season interim GM Chuck Fletcher would be replaced by Rick Dudley.

2002/03: In a season in which the Panthers celebrated their 10th anniversary the newly renamed Office Dept Center host one of the most exciting All-Star Game in NHL history as for the first time ever a shootout is used to determine the winner. However, Panthers fans would not have much to cheer about as the Panthers played miserable hockey at home posting an embarrassing 8-21-7-5 in Sunrise. On the road the Panthers would play above .500 as goalie Roberto Luongo established himself as one of the top young net minders in the NHL. The Panthers would continue to rework the team, as Sandis Ozolinsh and Valeri Bure are dealt away during the season in which the Panthers finished in 4th place with a 24-36-13-9 record.

2003/04: It was a year of great instability for the Florida Panthers who finished in 4th place with a 25-35-15-4 record, along the way a power struggle between GM Rick Dudley and Coach Mike Keenan threatened to rip apart the franchise. After 15 games Keenan was fired and replaced by Dudley who took over on an interim basis. Dudley would eventually leave the bench in February as John Torchetti was named coach for the rest of the season. Down the stretch the Panthers would play competitive hockey thanks to the stellar efforts of Goalie Roberto Luongo who was a finalist for the Vezina with 7 shutouts and a .931 save percentage. However the low scoring Panthers kept him from winning allot of games. When the season was over the power struggle between Keenan and Dudley reemerged as GM Rick Dudley who despite being given a contract extension in January is fired and replaced by Mike Keenan who brought in Jacques Martin to take over behind the bench.

2004/05: Season Cancelled Due to Lock Out

2005/06: Coming out of the lock out the Panthers were no better off then they were before, as it was Goalie Roberto Luongo without much help, as their offense continue to be among the worst in the NHL. After wining six of their first ten games the Panthers hit a wall at the end of October as they won just one game in November digging themselves a deep hole in the East they would never be able to climb out of. Although they would manage to post a 37-34-11 record they would fall 7 points short of the playoffs in 4th place in the Southeast Division. Following the season the Panthers decided to rework their team trading Goalie Roberto Luongo who had another solid but unrewarding season to the Vancouver Canucks along with Lukas Krajicek and a 6th round draft pick for Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Auld, and Bryan Allen, while signing free agent Ruslan Salei. As the new season approached another change was made as GM Mike Keenan resigned with Coach Jacques Martin taking over.

2006/07: The trade of Roberto Luongo would end up being a disaster for the Panthers, as Luongo won 47 games and was finalist for the Vezina, and Hart Trophies, while leading the Vancouver Canucks to a division title. Meanwhile in Florida the players the Panthers received in return all struggled as Todd Bertuzzi played just seven games with the Panthers, before an injury knocked him out for four months, by the time he was ready to return the Panthers decided to trade him to the Detroit Red Wings, at the deadline for more prospects. Goalie Alex Auld also struggled winning just seven games as he lost his starting job to veteran Eddie Belfour. While Ruslan Salei and Bryan Allen played well at times the Panthers were never a serious factor in the playoff chase finishing in 4th Place in the Southeast Division with a record of 35-31-16.