After 30 years of failure and frustration, the Panthers are now a prestige franchise. Here's how it all transpired, and how they build from here.
He lifted close to three decades of failures, embarrassments and frustration off the shoulders of the players, the fans and this franchise.are Stanley Cup champions. Not a punch line. Not being mocked for meager attendance. Not wallowing in mediocrity, on and off the ice, as the team went 25 years between playoff series victories.embarrassment.
Florida's attendance woes were a league-wide punch line, and the franchise did nothing to discourage it. He sold the franchise to pharmaceutical businessman Alan Cohen and former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar in 2001. Cliff Viner became general partner in 2010, and made two moves that would set up Florida for later success: Hiring formerWhen Viola took over, the real work began to repair the Panthers' reputation. It started with the way they ticketed games.
But even the Panthers' own municipality was fueling relocation speculation. Broward County did a full analysis of the Panthers franchise, and more broadly on whether or not there should be a hockey team in South Florida. "When there's a fan base that's mad and angry and looking for a savior, that's actually a little encouraging. At least you know, they're out there and if you do the right thing, they're going to come back," he said."The problem is that our fan base had become indifferent. There was still like 3,000 or so season-ticket holders that were loyal and wanted to see this happen. But a lot of the casual fans, former season-ticket holders, had given up.
"It was brutal. There were so many years in the wilderness," Panthers fan Scott Kandell said."We always seemed to have one or two good players with promise -- like Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss and Olli Jokinen -- but ownership's answer was always to bring in older players past their prime to try to create depth getting over the hump. And it was always with terrible results.
After Chicago fired Quenneville, the Panthers swooped in with a significant financial offer and the chance to work with Tallon again. The team showed improvement under Quenneville, although they still couldn't advance past the first round.as head coach of the Panthers following a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about his involvement in the Blackhawks' sexual abuse case.
"We had this great coach and we were blindsided by all of it. We started the season 7-0 and then the news broke," Caldwell said., and led the Panthers to their first Presidents' Trophy with the league's best record. He also coached them to their first playoff series victory since 1996, over thein December 2021, suggesting the team needed a different voice. He wasn't sure if he'd get another head-coaching job and was content with that.
"I think we are all very proud to be a part of that culture shift. It used to be that players would come and kind of fade away and end their career here," Lomberg said."Now it's where the big dogs like Matt Tkachuk want to come and want to establish themselves and build that legacy. So we're exceptionally lucky to be a part of the Florida Panthers and extremely proud to be where we're at.
The work they did in the playoffs against star opponents reflected that commitment. Through Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers didn't give up a 5-on-5 goal to McDavid,The constant in their defensive effort was Bobrovsky.
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