It was already a tough pill to swallow for teams and fans hoping for the Florida Panthers to relocate in the near future. Broward County and the team reached a deal on December 8th for the team to remain in South Florida for a minimum of 8 years.
But even the staunchest supporters of this beleaguered franchise could not have predicted what was to come in the second half of December.
Keep in mind before this historic 9-game winning streak began on December 15th, Florida was already showing signs of turning things around. From Nov. 27th-Dec. 4th the Panthers won 5 consecutive games for the first time in 2 years. The number of wins during that streak was not as impressive as the teams they beat on the road along the way. To beat the Red Wings, Blues, Predators, and Blue Jackets in succession, places where the Panthers have struggled mightily over the years, was beyond shocking.
Then after a few losses and a dominating win against the Capitals at home, the Cats came out flat and lost a bad one in Boston to start a 6-game road trip. After that game head coach Gerard Gallant and team captain Willie Mitchell had a long talk about the state of the team and what needed to be done to fix some of the inconsistencies.
Apparently the message was received and delivered properly to the team, because the Panthers have not lost since.
Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya have been the backbone of this team on this 9-game winning streak that has the Florida sitting in first place in the Atlantic division. But the penalty killing, cohesion on coverages, and timely scoring has been the right recipe that has made South Florida a hockey hotbed again.
Yes...again.
What most people don't remember is that the Florida Panthers were the toast of the town in 1996 on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The famous Year of the Rat captivated one of the biggest television markets in the country and even had national audiences tuning in waiting for the ice to be littered with plastic rats every time the Panthers scored a goal or won a game.
Since then, the Panthers have been one of the worst franchises in professional sports in terms of success. The fact that the Panthers have any fans left at all is a miracle of sorts, especially since moving from Miami Arena in 1998 to what was then the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, FL.
The South Florida sports market has been and always will be one of the most fickle regions in the U.S. Simply put, win or the fans aren't coming. That is a uniform mantra across all sports in the area. The Panthers certainly have lived it.
A non-traditional hockey market and a horrible product on the ice is not a sustainable mix in any southern city. Because of the complications in marketing such a product in a melting pot of people from all over the world, the Panthers wallowed in such ineptitude it was painful for the dwindling diehards for the almost two decades.
Until now.
Forgive Florida fans for being defensive about attendance jokes. Not even a few months ago pictures of attendance at Panthers home games were viral and a source of online snickering/ridicule. There are many more knowledgable, intense Florida Panther fans out there than anyone on the outside will concede.
Once the deal with the county was signed, fans could breathe easy the team they love whether they attended games or not was not going anywhere. Vinnie Viola, Doug Cifu, and Peter Luukko have done a fantastic job of alleviating the concerns of fans and season ticket holders as well as becoming more transparent about the processes of the organization as they try to turn things around.
The results are in, and it's working.
The name of the game is integrity, and all those free tickets that were given away for the last dozen years are now a thing of the past. Paid attendance means just that, and attendance is up...WAY UP...for the hottest team in the NHL and the talk of the league.
The NHL traditionally gives the Panthers a favorable holiday schedule due to all the northerners down for the winter, with this year being no exception. The Canadiens and Rangers always visit Sunrise during Christmas week, and they are usually the most attended games of the year with so many visiting fans visiting the area.
These types of games were complete embarrassments many times over the years when the Panthers were already out of the playoff race and 75% of the arena was wearing the visiting jersey.
Not this year.
Over the last 7 home games the Panthers have averaged 16,178 in PAID attendance. Interestingly enough there were no such condescending pictures being shared all over the internet of poor attendance, whether the Canadiens or Blue Jackets were in town.
Why? Because South Florida will support a successful Florida Panthers team, as anyone who is educated about that market knows. Let's face it. With the Dolphins, Hurricanes, Marlins, and Heat, this region is starving for any type of success. These Panthers are providing exactly that.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what people on the outside think they know. Numbers and scoreboard don't lie.
The team that GM Dale Tallon has painstakingly built over the last 5 years is finally showing the signs he said we needed to be patient to see. The fans have always been there, waiting for such prophecies to come true.
For now, that time has come. There is a lot of hockey left and the Atlantic is jammed up with a lot of quality teams. But if you would have asked anyone inside or out of this organization at the beginning of the year of they thought Florida would be in first place by 3 points on January 4th they would said no way. It is the disbelief around their current success that is the same reason many so called "experts" think it can't last.
Yet here it is, and finally these young stars-to-be are getting the credit they deserve for developing into good solid NHL players, with the upward trend to continue. Not much more evidence is needed when they have earned 30 points and are 15-3-0 over their last 18 games. The only question will be how hard will the fall be when the streak ends. With the veteran leadership in the room and the team experiencing the clear blueprint for success over this last month, it is hard to believe this team won't win more than they lose the rest of the way.
What do you think? Are the Panthers contenders or pretenders? Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments.
Dan Spiegel...
Florida Panthers Media
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