Not too long ago, the Florida Panthers hung a framed picture of Derek MacKenzie on the wall facing their locker room entrance at their training facility in Coral Springs.
The photos of all of Florida’s past captains take residence on the wall across from MacKenzie’s portrait and they all have something in common: As captain of the Panthers, guys like Brian Skrudland to Olli Jokinen to Bryan McCabe all faced plenty of adversity in trying to lead their team.
MacKenzie appears to be handling Florida’s challenging season as best he can.
“He has been unreal and it starts with him off the ice, in the room talking to the guys and being real positive,” said general manager and interim head coach Tom Rowe, who was part of the Florida management team which decided on MacKenzie as the ninth captain in franchise history.