The Florida Panthers, located outside of Miami in suburban Sunrise, have been an NHL franchise since 1993-94, this year being their 25th season. In their third season, they went on a magical run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, where they were quickly swept in four games by the Colorado Avalanche. Since then, the Panthers have not won a playoff series and have only been to the playoffs four times, which has hurt their attendance quite a bit.
Coming into the 2018-19 season, there was plenty to be excited about in Sunrise. The Panthers had just missed the playoffs in 2018 by a single point and went on a long run of success in the second half of the season. After the addition of forward Mike Hoffman, many around the league believed Florida would be either a Wild Card team or even third place in the Atlantic Division, giving them just their fourth playoff appearance this millennium.
This season has been quite disappointing for the Panthers, as they sit nine points out of a playoff spot on February 27th with just 20 games remaining. Much of this is a result of a decline in goaltending from Roberto Luongo and James Reimer, who have seen their goals against average drop this year compared to last. Outside of Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad, the defense is below average, which has led to more scoring chances for opponents.
At this point, it is incredibly probable that Florida misses the 2019 playoffs. With these disappointing results so far, the attendance has been disappointing again, with an average home crowd of 13,041, which is 77.1% of capacity. Can you really blame Panthers fans for staying home when this franchise hasn't shown progress since the 1996 season?
In addition, the empty seats and overall attendance problems for Florida is not all their fault. The franchise is relatively young and most young fans won't remember or weren't alive for the Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1996. The state of Florida, and especially Miami, is not entrenched with a long hockey history like Canada or many northern US states like Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, and New York, meaning fewer people who grow up with natural hockey interest and therefore fans of the Panthers.
Many hockey fans live in the Miami Metro area, but are transplants from elsewhere and cheer for their hometown teams, with little interest in the Panthers unless Florida is good. At many Panthers home games against opponents such as Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Boston, the crowd is approximately 50% or more fans of the road team. Many of these fans live in the Miami area, but have no attachment to the Panthers.
With nearly nine million dollars set to come off the books, the Panthers will able to add a solid goaltender and depth defenseman in free agency. Adding these pieces will give them a better shot of making the postseason once again and being dangerous in the playoffs. In order to be respectable again and build youth interest in hockey, Florida's management needs to build a well-balanced group that can score as well as defend.
