It’s that time of the week again. Yes, it’s time for Monday Mania! We’ve got Panthers/Broward County talk, prospect updates, and a variety of thoughts on the team. Let us begin.
Links and Bulletins
• The big story this week is the Panthers new funding proposal to Broward County. [Sun Sentinel]
• I’m not a business expert, so I’m not going to analyze the details of the proposal but what I will note is part of the proposal includes a commitment to host the NHL All-Star Game by 2022. Who’s ready for Team Ekblad? Team crest is a beard.
• Former Panthers beat writer David J. Neal weighed in on the Panthers proposal to Broward County.
• George Richards with some thoughts on and quotes from Jaromir Jagr.
• As always, check out our Pirates Periodical for the latest on the Panthers AHL affiliate.
• Its been a relatively quiet week for Panthers prospects in the Major Junior leagues. Jayce Hawryluk had two goals, Juho Lammikko had two assists, and Lawson Crouse scored a goal against Hamilton on Saturday, his first game of the OHL season.
• Crouse also picked up the primary assist on the game winning overtime goal during Sunday night’s game against the Oshawa Generals. You can see it here. Crouse lunges to stop a pass in his offensive zone, then one handedly shovels a pass to teammate.
The Week Ahead
Panthers are hitting the old dusty trail this week, and will play three games on the road, including two against tough Western Conference foes.
10/20/15 – Florida Panthers @ Pittsburgh Penguins
The Panthers will get their first look at Phil Kessel in a Penguins uniform on Tuesday. The ex-Toronto Maple Leaf has just a goal and an assist in five games so far in the Steel City. The Penguins are off to a rough start in general, with a 2-3-0 record so far in this young season. Along with Kessel, only Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have multiple points for the Penguins on the season. The big shocker? Sidney Crosby is pointless through five games, the worst start of his NHL career.
10/22/15 – Florida Panthers @ Chicago Blackhawks
The Panthers will take on the defending Stanley Cup Champions. The Blackhawks title defense is off to a 3-3-0 start. They played to a 4-1 victory over Columbus on Saturday night. However, an odd schedule quirk has no games for the Hawks early this week, so they will remain idle until Thursday.
10/24/15 – Florida Panthers @ Dallas Stars
You guys again!? Panthers swiftly get a chance at redemption for their loss on Saturday night. The Stars will play away games in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh this week prior to this next game.
The Hat Trick
It’s Just One Game: Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to Dallas was a scene we saw many times with the Panthers last season. Let’s review the pain: the Panthers held a 2-1 lead over the Stars heading into the third period. Dallas would tie the game just 50 seconds into the final frame, and then score the winning goal with a little over 3 minutes on the clock. It was a familiar recipe for disaster. Last season, the Panthers either entered with a lead or gained a lead in the 3rd period 26 times. They lost 13 of those leads, and ended up losing 8 games after having a third period lead. That’s a lot of lost opportunity.
Now, this was just one game, it would be premature to sound the alarms. However, the Panthers cannot let this become the habit it became last year. These are the losses that truly hurt, because they could have easily been wins. Three of these losses came in March against non-playoff teams (Toronto, Dallas, and Boston), key losses to teams that the Panthers could have handled. Losses like this will inevitably happen at some point during a season, that can be abided to, but each of these losses from here on out will come with diminished understanding.
Rather Be Bitten Than Barkov’d: Much ado has been made about Aleksander Barkov’s production over his young career. Or lack thereof. Early on in the 2015-16 season though, it appears change may be afoot. His six points through five games is by far his best career start to an NHL season. In fact, it is the best offensive run he’s had since collecting 7 points in 6 games during his rookie season (12/23/13 vs. TB – 1/6/14 @ MTL). The Panthers are generating 61.5 CF/60 with him on the ice, up from 54.3 last season. He is also individually generating 12.4 CF/60, which is significantly higher than his previous rates of 8.5 as a rookie, and 9.4 last season.
The great part is that the added offensive push is, so far, not coming at the expense of defense. The Panthers are yielding just 20.5 SCA/60 when Barkov is on the ice. This nearly matches the rate put up last year, which was among the best in the league. His CA/60 is also down to 48.1 from 49.5 last season as well.
Of course, this year’s stats come with the caveat of small sample size. However, I do not think it would be a stretch to suggest that what we have seen so far is sustainable. The defensive numbers check out with last year’s, and we all expected Barkov to take a step forward offensively, as the talent he possesses is evident when you watch him. The only thing that may not be sustainable is his shooting percentage, an inflated 17.6% at the moment. That aside, if he is to truly step forward, this is likely what it should look like, no matter how early it may be.
Kulikov Appreciation: One defenseman has stood out to me early on in a good way, and that is Dmitry Kulikov. He showed a buttoned down game last season, suppressing shots at the best rate of his career. His CA/60 was 50.7 on the year. Through five games this season, it is down even further to 46.7. That’s not all. His CF%rel is +5.5%, the highest its been in a long time.
Stats though, are not all that has been grabbing my attention. Lately, Kulikov has been turning it up on the offensive side. He’s jumping up into plays, he’s finding holes in opposing defenses, and he’s driving to the net and generating opportunities. Then on the flip side, he’s getting hit with some frequency (-10 hit differential at 5v5) and he’s not always getting a lot of ice time (However, to be fair, he had the third most TOI at 5v5 of any Panthers defenseman during Saturday’s loss). Dmitry is making things happen, and he’s paying a price for it while getting a small amount of minutes.
Make sure to tune in next week for another edition of Monday Mania!
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