The 2018-19 NHL season went in like a lion, but quickly backed out like a lamb. Once again, the Florida Panthers and their fans found themselves on the proverbial outside-looking-in, come playoff time.
Despite excitement built up by their 25-8-2 finish the season prior, the off-season acquisition of Mike Hoffman, and preseason predictions from analysts expecting Florida to make the playoffs (potentially even challenging for a top three spot in the Atlantic) the team took a disheartening no-look-pass-between-the-legs-in-the-defensive-zone step back in the standings.
Considering last season’s team featured career offensive years lead by a group of three 30 goal scorers (and Dadonov close to making that four with his 28), one of the top ranked power plays in the league (shocking), and a franchise record 96 points by Barkov (also good enough for 10th in the NHL in scoring), the end result in the standings was disappointing, to say the least.