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The FL Panthers made NHL history this past weekend, unfortunately, the club became part of a dubious group of teams.<\/p>\n
The FL Panthers<\/a> made NHL history this wekend. The two-time Stanley Cup champions have made history over the last couple of seasons.<\/p>\n But this time, the Cats will go down in the history books for the wrong reason.<\/p>\n The FL Panthers<\/a> were officially eliminated from playoff contention this season after back-to-back blowout losses against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Panthers dropped a 9-4 decision on Saturday, followed by a 5-2 decision on Sunday.<\/p>\n The club is now part of a dubious group. The Cats became just the third team in the salary cap<\/a> era to miss the playoffs the following season after winning the Stanley Cup. The 2006-07 Carolina Hurricanes and the 2014-15 LA Kings<\/a> stand as the other two clubs on the list.<\/p>\n For the FL Panthers, the writing was on the wall. After three-straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final, a regression seemed on the horizon. The club has battled through injuries and the overall grind of the compressed schedule this season.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the possibility of a three-peat has come to an end. That doesn\u2019t mean that Florida can\u2019t come back next year and make another strong run. In the meantime, however, the organization will be looking to regroup for next season.<\/p>\n Grind, Time, Injuries Caught Up to FL Panthers<\/p>\n There have been plenty of questions surrounding the FL Panthers\u2019 tough season. Instead of just being one factor, it\u2019s been multiple issues that have plagued the team this season.<\/p>\n The most evident issue was the loss of captain Aleksander Barkov in training camp. The crushing knee injury to the team\u2019s best player set the tone for a tough season.<\/p>\n Also, playing most of the year without Matthew Tkachuk played a factor in the team not really getting off to a strong start. Other veteran players like Brad Marchand showed their age.<\/p>\n At this point in the season, the FL Panthers are playing without multiple regulars like Anton Lundell, Aaron Ekblad, and Evan Rodrigues. Then, there\u2019s also the loss of another key defenseman, Niko Mikkola, leaving the Cats\u2019 blue line woefully undermanned.<\/p>\n To compound matters, the compressed schedule made it tough for the Panthers this season. While every team could say the same thing, the mostly veteran club zapped through its depth pretty quickly. Without many reinforcements, the writing was on the wall for one of the best teams in the salary cap era.<\/p>\n What to read next: NHL Rumors: Major Changes Coming Around the League<\/a><\/p>\n Can the Cats Rebound in 2026-27?<\/p>\n That\u2019s a tough question to answer. The short answer is yes. A healthy team could come back and make one more run. The core is still there, albeit a year old. But that doesn\u2019t mean the FL Panthers can\u2019t put it all together and make one more run.<\/p>\n However, much of that outlook depends on Sergei Bobrovsky coming back. The 37-year-old netminder will be a free agent this summer. That\u2019s why re-signing him will be a priority for the organization moving forward.<\/p>\n If the FL Panthers can\u2019t bring back Bobrovsky, the organization will need to find its next starting goaltender. That situation may be easier said than done, given the thin free-agent market this offseason.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNestor Quixtan<\/a> Seasoned NHL analyst and baseball writer focused on covering clubs across each league with news, analysis, and insights. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Nestor’s singular experiences and background have enabled him to bring a different take on the sports world as a whole. Nestor’s fondness for baseball and hockey set the tone for his love and passion for writing about sports. More about Nestor Quixtan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on FL Panthers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The FL Panthers made NHL history this past weekend, unfortunately, the club became part of a dubious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-543768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116357964433521461","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}