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The 'Florida Panthers' are a professional ice hockey team based in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida/Miami, Florida suburb of Sunrise. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Contents

Franchise history

Season-by-season record

Notable players

Current roster

Team captains

Honored Members

First-round draft picks

Franchise scoring leaders

NHL awards and trophies

Franchise individual records

References

See also

External links

Franchise history

Blockbuster Video magnate H. Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for his native Miami in 1992. The team played at the Miami Arena, and its first major stars were New York Rangers goaltender castoff John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Rob Niedermayer, and Scott Mellanby, who scored 30 goals. They had one of the most successful first seasons of any expansion team, finishing one point below .500 and narrowly missing out on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After missing another close brush with the playoffs in 1995, coach Roger Neilson was fired and replaced by Doug MacLean. They then acquired Ray Sheppard from the San Jose Sharks on the trade deadline in 1996 and they looked towards the playoffs for the first time.
Also during that season, a very unusual goal celebration developed in Miami. On the night of the Panthers' '95-'96 home opener, a rat scurried across the Florida locker room. Mellanby reacted by "one-timing" the rat against the wall, killing it [1]. That night he scored two goals, which Vanbiesbrouck quipped was "a rat trick". Two nights later, as the story found its way into the world, a few fans threw rubber rats on the ice in celebration of a goal. The rubber rat count went from 16 for the third home game to over 2,000 during the playoffs. In a freak coincidence, 1996 was also year of the rat according to Chinese Astrology.
In the 1996 playoffs, as the #4 seed, the Panthers beat the Boston Bruins in 5 games, then upset the top seeded Philadelphia Flyers in six, and then the second seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in seven to reach the Stanley Cup Final. Their opponents, the Colorado Avalanche, swept the Panthers in four games.
The Panthers would begin the next season with a 17-game unbeaten streak, but due to injuries and a couple of questionable personnel moves (the acquisition of Kirk Muller at the trade deadline as well as the earlier trade of popular center Stu Barnes), Florida faded in the second half of the season, losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Wayne Gretzky-led Rangers in five games.
The 1997-98 season would be a return to mediocrity for the Panthers. After a 7-12-4 start, the Panthers fired coach Doug MacLean, replacing him for the season with General Manager Bryan Murray. The change didn't aid matters, as Florida suffered a franchise-worst 24-43-15 record, including a 15-game winless streak. This season would also mark the end of Disneyworld for Vanbiesbrouck, who in the midst of that streak was shelled by the Chicago Blackhawks and never played another game for the Panthers. He would sign with the Flyers that off-season as a free agent.

The Panthers moved into the National Car Rental Center (now known as BankAtlantic Center) in 1998. In 1999, they acquired Pavel Bure (the "Russian Rocket"), in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks. They reached the playoffs again in 2000, losing in a first-round sweep to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils.
The team slumped in 2000-01. The following season, 2001-02, the Panthers had their worst record ever. Bure struggled despite being reunited with his brother Valeri, and was traded to the Rangers on the 2002 trading deadline.
The Cats started coveting defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who was widely tipped to be picked first overall in 2002, around then. But controversial bench boss “Iron Mike” Keenan sent Florida's first pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who took winger Rick Nash. The Atlanta Thrashers, after secondly picking goalie Kari Lehtonen, announced that the Panthers had given them two picks to guarantee that Bouwmeester went to Miami. Bouwmeester was selected third overall. ''"We shouldn’t have done that ... Jay would have been number-one if we'd kept that pick,"''^[1] said Keenan.
In 2003, the Panthers hosted the NHL All-Star Weekend in which the Western Conference earned a 6-5 victory after the first OT shootout in All-Star history. The West overcame a four-goal outburst by Thrashers winger Dany Heatley, who took home MVP honors in his first All-Star Game.
On June 23, 2006, The Panthers were again involved in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks, sending Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek, and a sixth-round draft pick in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Auld, and Bryan Allen. Critics have blasted the move, calling it "the worst trade in the history of the NHL". Bertuzzi would later be traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the deadline for a conditional draft pick and centre Shawn Matthias.
On June 22nd, 2007, the Florida Panthers were involved in yet another draft day deal involving a goalie. The Florida Panthers acquired Tomas Vokoun from the Nashville Predators in exchange for three draft picks, a 1st round pick in 2008, a second round pick in 2008, and a conditional second round pick that can be used in 2007 or 2008.
On July 22, 2007 The Florida Panthers unveiled their new jerseys to over 11,000 fans at the BankAtlantic Center Saturday afternoon during the first intermission of a Panthers Alumni game. Star forwards Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss were both in full gear to help showcase the sweater upgrades.

Season-by-season record

''This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Panthers. For the full season-by-season history, see Florida Panthers seasons''
'''Note:' GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes''
Records as of February 6, 2007. ^[2]

Season	GP	W	L	T1	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
2001-02	82	22	44	10	6	60	180	250	1994	4th, Southeast	Did not qualify
2002-03	82	24	36	13	9	70	176	237	1127	4th, Southeast	Did not qualify
2003-04	82	28	35	15	4	75	188	221	1192	4th, Southeast	Did not qualify
2004-05	''Season cancelled due to 2004-05 NHL Lockout''
2005-061	82	37	34	-	11	85	240	257	1255	4th, Southeast	Did not qualify
2006-07	82	35	31	-	16	86	247	257	1059	4th, Southeast	Did not qualify

:¹ As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

Notable players

Current roster

As of July 16, 2007. [2]

Goaltenders
#		'Player'	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
'29'		Tomas Vokoun	R	2007	Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia
'31'		Craig Anderson	L	2006	Park Ridge, Illinois

Defensemen
#		'Player'	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
		Cory Murphy	R	2007	Kanata, Ontario
'2'		Branislav Mezei	L	2002	Nitra, Czechoslovakia
'4'		Jay Bouwmeester	L	2002	Edmonton, Alberta
'5'		Bryan Allen	L	2006	Kingston, Ontario
'6'		Noah Welch	L	2007	Brighton, Massachusetts
'7'		Steve Montador	R	2005	Vancouver, British Columbia
'24'		Ruslan Salei	L	2006	Minsk, U.S.S.R.
'26'		Mike Van Ryn	R	2003	London, Ontario

Forwards
#		'Player'	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
		Radek Dvorak	RW	R	2007	Tábor, Czechoslovakia
'9'		Stephen Weiss	C	L	2001	Toronto, Ontario
'11'		Gregory Campbell	LW	L	2002	London, Ontario
'12'		Olli Jokinen – 'C'	C	L	2000	Kuopio, Finland
'15'		Jozef Stumpel	C	R	2005	Nitra, Czechoslovakia
'16'		Nathan Horton	RW	R	2003	Welland, Ontario
'18'		Ville Peltonen	LW	L	2006	Vantaa, Finland
'20'		Richard Zednik	LW	L	2007	Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
'46'		David Booth	LW	L	2004	Detroit, Michigan
'53'		Brett McLean	C	L	2007	Comox, British Columbia
'85'		Rostislav Olesz	LW	L	2004	Bílovec, Czechoslovakia

Team captains

★ Brian Skrudland, 1993-97

★ Scott Mellanby, 1997-2001

★ Pavel Bure & Paul Laus, 2001-02 (co-captains)

★ No captain, 2002-03

★ Olli Jokinen, 2003- ''present''

Honored Members

''Hall of Famers'': The Panthers first Head Coach Roger Neilson (1993-95), was inducted in 2002 (as a Builder), for his NHL coaching career. The Panthers first President & General Manager Bill Torrey (1993-2001), was inducted in 1995 (as a Builder), for his NHL team management career.
''Retired numbers'': The Panthers have not retired a number from their team. However, Wayne Gretzky's number '99' was retired league-wide on February 6, 2000.

First-round draft picks

★ 1993: Rob Niedermayer (5th overall)

★ 1994: Ed Jovanovski (1st overall)

★ 1995: Radek Dvorak (10th overall)

★ 1996: Marcus Nilson (20th overall)

★ 1997: Mike Brown (20th overall)

★ 1998: None

★ 1999: Denis Shvidki (12th overall)

★ 2000: None

★ 2001: Stephen Weiss (4th overall) & Lukas Krajicek (24th overall)

★ 2002: Jay Bouwmeester (3rd overall) & Petr Taticek (9th overall)

★ 2003: Nathan Horton (3rd overall) & Anthony Stewart (25th overall)

★ 2004: Rostislav Olesz (7th overall)

★ 2005: Kenndal McArdle (20th overall)

★ 2006: Michael Frolik (10th overall)

★ 2007: Keaton Ellerby (10th overall)

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.
'''Note:' Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game;
★ = current Panthers player''

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Scott Mellanby	RW	552	157	197	'354'	.64
Olli Jokinen ★	C	485	154	194	'348'	.72
Viktor Kozlov	C	414	101	190	'291'	.70
Robert Svehla	D	573	61	229	'290'	.51
Rob Niedermayer	C	518	101	165	'266'	.51
Pavel Bure	RW	223	152	99	'251'	1.13
Ray Whitney	LW	273	97	130	'227'	.83
Radek Dvorak ★	RW	336	69	93	'162'	.48
Bill Lindsay	RW	506	63	98	'161'	.32
Gord Murphy	D	410	42	100	'142'	.35

NHL awards and trophies

'Prince of Wales Trophy'

★ 1995-96
'Rocket Richard Trophy'

★ Pavel Bure: 1999-00, 2000-01

Franchise individual records

★ Most Goals in a season: Pavel Bure, 59 (2000-01)

★ Most Assists in a season: Viktor Kozlov, 53 (1999-00)

★ Most Points in a season: Pavel Bure, 94 (1999-00)

★ Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Peter Worrell, 354 (2001-02)

★ Most Points in a season, defenseman: Robert Svehla, 57 (1995-96)

★ Most Points in a season, rookie: Jesse Belanger, 50 (1993-94)

★ Most Wins in a season: Roberto Luongo, 35 (2005-06)

★ Most Shutouts in a season: Roberto Luongo, 7 (2003-04)

★ All time leader in goals against average: John Vanbiesbrouck, 2.58

★ All time leader in shutouts: Roberto Luongo, 26

★ All time leader in games played by a goaltender: John Vanbiesbrouck, 268

★ All time leader in wins by a goaltender: John Vanbiesbrouck, 106

References

1. Hockey's Greatest Stars: Legends and Young Lions, McDonell, Chris., , , Firefly Books, 2005, ISBN 1-55407-038-4
2. Hockeydb.com, Florida Panthers season statistics and records.

See also

★ List of NHL players

★ List of NHL seasons

External links

★ Official website of the Florida Panthers

★ Official website of the Florida Panthers Booster Club