1 – FINNISHED ‘EM: It would be hard to imagine things going any better for the Florida Panthers in the NHL’s 2024 Global Series games in Tampere, Finland on the weekend. The Cats swept the Dallas Stars in a pair of games, by scores of 6-4 and 4-2, and returned to South Florida riding a five game win streak overall. Captain Aleksander Barkov stole the show in his hometown, tallying a goal and four assists in the two contests.
2 – BARKING: Barkov was in fact the star of the week, acting as a tour guide for his Florida teammates, and rubbing shoulders with the President of Finland Alexander Stubbs in the Cats dressing room after Saturday’s finale. “Ya (we) usually see him when we win so that’s a good thing,” Barkov smiled. “Big, big honor obviously. He’s the President of my country, where I was born and grew up, so it’s always an honor to be around him. We all know he loves hockey more than anything, and it was a big honor to see him in our locker room for sure.”
3 – LOOKING AHEAD: The Panthers have resumed practice this week at the Baptist Health IcePlex/FTL War Memorial, getting their feet under them and getting adjusted back to the Eastern Time Zone. After a long time away, the Panthers open a five game homestand on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena against Steven Stamkos and the Nashville Predators. The Cats haven’t played at home since November 22, a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
4 – GO BOLTS: The Tampa Bay Lightning have been gone almost as long. Following a 3-2 OT win over Nashville on November 28 at Amalie Arena, the Bolts went on the road for four straight with mixed results. They opened with a 5-2 win at Colorado, then lost 5-3 at Minnesota and 7-4 at Winnipeg. They concluded the trip Tuesday evening in St. Louis and will open a three game homestand on Thursday versus Philadelphia. … Two former Lightning players were involved in a spirited fight Monday night in Nashville when Luke Schenn of the Predators KO’ed Tanner Jeannot of the L.A. Kings with a flurry of left hands. While they both suited up for Tampa Bay back in the day, they never were with the Lightning at the same time.
5 – TOP FIVE/BOTTOM FIVE: In past weeks I’ve included NHL Power Rankings from The Score but am confident enough to provide my own rankings of the NHL’s Top 5 and Bottom 5 teams through the first month of the season. At the top right now are 1) Winnipeg, 2) Florida, 3) Minnesota, 4) NY Rangers and 5) Vegas Golden Knights from my vantage point. At the bottom are 28) Buffalo, 29) Nashville, 30) Montreal, 31) Philadelphia and 32) San Jose.
6 – COACH Q: The name of former Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville (2019-2021) is on the lips of NHL insiders in press boxes across the league these days. The three-time Stanley Cup winning coach was 79-40-13 on the Cats bench before being forced to step down in the Fall of 2021 for his role in the Chicago Blackhawks scandal a decade prior. The Panthers were on a season-opening seven game win streak when Quenneville left the club. Why is his name buzzing in league circles right now? Because Quenneville is regarded as the best coach outside the NHL and was reinstated by Commissioner Gary Bettman this summer. I asked one NHL insider where Quenneville will resurface next and he replied, “Wherever the first coach firing is.” Which brings us to …
7 – HOT SEAT: Coach firing odds aren’t as talked-about nor as readily available as their counterparts in the NFL, but they also aren’t hard to find. According to the latest BetMGM coach firing odds, Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan leads the way at #1. The rest are: 2) Jim Montgomery/Boston, 3) Derek Lalonde/Detroit, and 4) Andrew Brunette/Nashville. For what it’s worth, Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper is listed at #12 at Gambling911.com and Florida’s Paul Maurice is #32.
8 – SURPRISES: It’s not surprising that former Florida coach Andrew Brunette is on the hot seat. His Nashville Predators have gotten off to a slow start (4-7-1, 8th in the Central Division) and are regarded as the NHL’s biggest disappointment a month into the season. … Another mild surprise is the resurgence of the New Jersey Devils under first year coach Sheldon Keefe. They missed the playoffs last season, but are 4th in the NHL’s overall standings this year, leaders of the Metropolitan Division, and are coming off a western swing which included shutout victories in Vancouver and Edmonton.
9 – THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE: Meanwhile reality has sunk in for the Calgary Flames. After getting off to their best start in the franchise’s 52 years, they entered this week as losers of four of their past five games. Since it’s Year 1 of a rebuild, the only thing surprising about this was their hot start. … We’ve been closely tracking the exploits of the Utah Hockey Club in their first season in Salt Lake City since relocating from Arizona, where they were the Coyotes since 1996. Entering the week, Utah held down the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, perilously. … Perhaps the biggest story in the NHL is the play of the #1 overall Winnipeg Jets. They entered the week at 11-1-0 which has their fans thinking this might finally be the year they win the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup. … The Panthers finally left the ugly “No Cup” club in June with their first ever Stanley Cup title. That club includes Winnipeg, Minnesota, Vancouver, Utah, Columbus, Seattle, Buffalo, Nashville and San Jose. Not a club you want to be in!
10 – STAR-GAZING: Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby were named the NHL’s three stars of the week on Monday.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games last week.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
See you at the rink!
(Veteran hockey writer and broadcaster Rod Pedersen covers the NHL for the South Florida Tribune. He also hosts the award-winning weekly Cats N Bolts Podcast and the daily Rod Pedersen Show on Game+TV, WQEE Radio & YouTube)
