This past NHL season saw the Florida Panthers make a 25 point increase in the standings from the year before, good enough for the biggest improvement by any team in the league. Many young players took the next step in their development.
Brandon Pirri developed into a goal scoring machine, tallying 19 goals over his last 30 games played. Nick Bjugstad established himself as a top center on the team along with Aleksander Barkov, while Jonathan Huberdeau had a career best 54 points.
We witnessed the evolution of Dmitry Kulikov into a reliable, smart defenseman, a distant memory of the turnover prone Kulikov of years past.