[State of the Panthers] We’re 10 games into the new season. What’s been the biggest bright spot? What areas have you most concerned?

22 comments

1. Not having our best player seems to be having a negative impact

2. Bright spot: AJ Greer seems to have found a solid offensive aspect to his game. We can still lock down good teams (17 SOG against from Vegas for example)

   Concern: Scoring is streaky. Gaps on the roster are evident with players out.

3. Brad is def someone i wasnt expecting comin out this out, every stat card hes our best player or near top

   Sam bennett while usually not a regular season showoff has been abysmal so far

   Then again its october and were b2b champs so im not worried, just sucks that some games we could win we blow it and hopefully that doesnt come back to bite us. Rather kind of build a good lead now then cool down before playoffs.

   But being .500 is where i hoped wed be before we get chcuky back who should be a big boost.

   I also rather see anyone else on that 3rd pairing besides petry

   Schmidt had a rough start but not nearly this bad

4. I’m just so happy we were able to hang on to Brad Marchand.

5. **Biggest Bright Spots:** We’re keeping our head above water without Barkov/Tkachuk, Marchy and the Finns are still dominating, Tarasov looks like an incredibly viable backup.

   In such a small sample size, it’s hard to come away with any declarative statements. Still, it’s been good to see that this team isn’t digging itself in an insanely deep hole to start the year. We *knew* life was going to be hard without two of our Top 3 stars. If we had gotten off to a start like Calgary… you’re just making the prospect of them coming back and providing some juice in the arm so damn difficult. I’ve said it many times but I would happily take a bang average .500 record entering 2026 and hope we can go on a run of form from there.

   Props to Marchand for being incredible. He’s 37, the 2nd oldest player on the entire team, and yet he’s leading us in every major offensive stat. I expected him to see a boost statistically given the guys we have out but he’s even surpassed those expectations. Such a joy to watch and I’m so happy we resigned him. Additionally, leave it to Forsling even in a year where lots of guys are in the minus to still be a positive and have the best on the entire team at that.

   Finally, Tarasov’s stats are deceiving. He balled the hell out in both losses, we just didn’t get him offensive support. Very optimistic about him from what we’ve seen since preseason.

   **Biggest Areas of Concern:** We Can’t Score, Oh Bennett…, no more room for injuries

   By far the biggest issue this year has been the inability to put the puck in the back of the net. The only teams we’re ahead of offensively are the old ass Predators, the dysfunctional Rangers, and an abysmal Flames squad that has left Dustin Wolf’s poor ass out to dry. When you look at individual stats, it’s not hard to see who needs to step up. Reino. Led the team in points last year and did a fantastic job **LAST** year when Barky/Tkachuk missed time is not having the same success. Verhaeghe’s goal-scoring woes seem to be carrying over from last year. Both of them need to be better.

   Worst of all, Bennett has had the roughest go of them all. A team worst -9 and I feel like I’ve just seen far too much time this season him carry the puck into the offensive zone and do nothing with it. 1C life is hard. He’s *not* built for it. I even acknowledged after we extended him for the $$$ we did that was pricey for a guy who broke 50pts for the first time ever last year. Now in an increased role against better competition… we’re seeing the consequences. Right now due to injuries he’s being forced into a role and expectation that he simply isn’t capable of fulfilling. Hopefully it can improve a *bit*. If not, it’s gonna be a long year…

   Finally, I include this last bit due to Kulikov’s 5-month injury he picked up vs Philly. These guys have played **A LOT** of hockey the last 3 years. We’re seeing the wear-and-tear. No Barkov and no Tkachuk. No Nosek. Now no Kulikov. Each time you strip a part of this team we’re just getting thinner and thinner. Eventually, you run out of horses. If something happens to Goose/Jones/Ekblad… good grief man. Injuries always suck but given our current status we *really* can’t afford anyone missing serious time the next 2 months.

6. If this is how the entire season will be without Barkov, we might need some help to get in.

7. Bright spots:

   Lundell, Marchand, and Mackie have stepped up to try and help mitigate the obvious loss in offence created by injuries. Defence and goaltending have largely been solid. Reino had his best game against Vegas, hopefully that’s a sign of things to come. The new line of Reino, ERod, and Verhaeghe has looked great so far. Greer and Gadjovich have looked good too, I really liked Schwindt on that 4th line against Vegas, would love to see him get a run of games to see what he brings.

   Concerns:

   We need to get Bennett going somehow. While Verhaeghe’s production hasn’t really been there either, you will have at least noticed him the past few games. Bennett has been anonymous so far and needs to step up more to help the team string some wins together. Boqvist has also been a bit too quiet. He clearly works hard, but nothing seems to click with him.

   Tl;dr – Some bright spots on offence but a lot more needed. Defence and goaltending has been mostly good so far.

8. Injurieso and offensive production worry me.
   Bright spot the heavy hitters of our division are all down and we’re only 4 pts out of first.

9. We’re missing 2 of our 3 best skaters and we’ve looked better than Toronto and Tampa. That’s a win in my book, still definitely room to improve.

10. It kinda sucks that we’re out a 1C, 2nd line winger, 3rd pair Dman and a 4th line center. All of our line combinations are fucked from what would be the ideal pairings. Bob has looked great at times. I’ve noticed 4th line stepping up. 2nd line needs a playmaker. Other teams are enjoying full rosters but as we have come to know, it doesn’t last forever. Some adversity is good for the character and we’re definitely building some karma for when we can regain some of our players. Hope we keep momentum. I don’t know many teams who could turn out a .500 record being down 2 of their elite players and 2 depth players. Seems like we’re not doing too bad at this point. I’d want to get Kulikov back ASAP do we can ditch Petry. Not impressed thus far.

11. like everyone else marchy, mackie

    but also mikkola , he has been making less bone headed plays at our line, hes playing a very complete game and reminding me of gus

12. Who cares? They won 2 cups.

13. Biggest bright spot considering our injuries is how inconsistent the rest of the Atlantic has been. Just need to stay competitive until we get some personnel back.

    Biggest concern is generating offense. That seems to be improving though. Guys are starting to gel.

14. Petry is abysmal. Just awful. I hope that changes… soon.

15. Being 3rd in the Atlantic without a bunch of our starters is not bad 😏 all we have to do is make it into the playoffs.

    The team’s lack of offense is a little concerning for me. I thought Verhaeghe would be stepping up big time and he’s been ok. The games we’ve lost have been games where we got nothing really going and I was hoping he would be aiding those efforts.

16. Biggest highlight:
    The Playoff line of 27-15-63 hasnt missed a beat, we should have gone to it earlier.
    Samo has taken another step
    Tarasov has looked great despite the losses

    Lowlights:
    Benny has looked good, but that hasnt resulted in points. He has had some dumb turnovers and penalties.
    Third D pair looks rough, I remember OEL and Schmidt needing a learning curve but Petry looks to be behind the curve and Balinskis needs to stay at home more

17. The Stanley Cup flu is real. Just give the guys some time to heal up and get going again.
    We had a post complaining about Bob and then he got a shut out the next game.

    That’s hockey.
    Just be patient. The talent is there. We just need to stabilize and that takes time.

18. Bright spots: Greer, Marchy, Bob, ERod
    Concern: Scoring goals without two top 10 forwards

    May be we can do what we tried to do 6 years ago and get the Breadman to Sunrise. Or go back to the Calgary well and get Kadri

19. bright spots: greer is actually a decent player outside hitting, ekblad has been much better defensively obviously some blunders but what can ya do, mackie might put up 50-60, lundell might put up 70, and marchy will probably be a ppg. tarasov has been great as well just needs to play more.
    concerns are that while petry and balinskis looked infinitely better in the game against vegas it’s still very obviously them. bennett as well. while paying him for his playoff performance is valid he’s looked lost out there and is expected to step up with an 8×8 yet he’s been bad.

20. With all the injuries we’ve had, I figured there would be a bit of a dip in performance for a while. Yes, of course, you’re missing the players on the ice, but having that many people out changes the chemistry on the ice a bit. You need a little time to adjust and adapt. This last game I feel like we saw things start to click and we saw them go back to playing Panthers hockey, even without the injured guys.

    I think we’re gonna be just fine. Mackie is going to shine this season, Marchand is just a bulldog and he’s going to take up the mantle of team leader more and more. Bob is going to continue to give us a chance every game.

    There’s a lot of positives among the negatives, and if they can find a way to succeed now, when they get back to full strength they’re going to be an even bigger force to be reckoned with.

21. Guys, it’s still literally October

22. Concerns 38 year old petry hasnt really been doing the job and dont get me wrong the guy has a good shot but he skates so slow and some bright spots lundells line and rodrigeus getting moved from the 3rd to 1st line