All-Time Team: Florida Panthers (1993-present)

 

This article took far too long to write. Sorry 'bout that.

These are terrible and dark times indeed. In a tragic turn of events this year, Lord Stanley's Cup was won by the Las Vegas Golden Knights – I refuse to just call it “Vegas” – a very unpopular team that has enjoyed an inordinate amount of early success in its first six seasons. In a break from tradition I will not be doing an all-time lineup for this year's Stanley Cup champs, for two reasons. The first is that the Golden Knights are a team I absolutely despise! The second and more pressing reason is that I simply can't. That team doesn't have enough historical players for me to draw on; not enough Golden Knights qualify by the “minimum 220-240 games rule” for me to make a full roster of 20 players. So just like in 2021, I'm going to go with the runners up. Here is the all-time team for the Florida Panthers! But first, a brief history.

The NHL added a lot of expansion teams throughout the 1990's thanks to the newfound (supposed) boost in hockey's popularity in the American sunbelt. In 1993 the league welcomed its two newest teams: the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. Not only were the Panthers the first professional hockey team in Miami since 1939, but their arena wasn't built yet and not a single person in the team's business operations knew anything about hockey. In other words, it was your typical southern expansion team BS. The Panthers picked some decent players in the expansion and entry drafts of 1993, assembling a respectable team for their inaugural season (1993-94) in which they just barely missed the last playoff spot. In their first year Florida finished with 83 points, which set a new record for an expansion team.

After a second near-miss season a shake-up happened. A new coach, the drafting of defenceman Ed Jovanovski, and the acquisition of Ray Sheppard was the shot in the arm that the Panthers needed. Not only did the team make the playoffs for the first time, but they went on a tear through other – and most would say, better – Eastern Conference teams on the way to the Stanley Cup finals thanks to some heroic goaltending from John Vanbiesbrouck. But alas, the Panthers were crushed in a four-game finals sweep against the mighty Colorado Avalanche.

Florida began the 1996-97 season strongly but coasted its way into the playoffs that year, getting eliminated in five games in the opening round. With this, the Panthers began a long period of stagnation and failure. A blockbuster trade in January 1999 brought in goal-scoring legend Pavel Bure, who helped push Florida back into playoff action the following year, but the team got swept in the opening round by the eventual Cup champions, the New Jersey Devils. Draft picks just weren't working out they way many had hoped and there were some bad trades that got rid of talented players, the most infamous of which dealt away star goaltender Roberto Luongo in 2006 for a has-been and some chump change. All told, the Florida Panthers only qualified for the playoffs three times in the 21 seasons between 1998 and 2019! Home game attendance suffered heavily during this time and the Panthers were seen by many as a joke of a franchise.

An early-2010's rebuild finally got the team in order, with many new players, a new general manager, and a new head coach. The Panthers won their first ever division championship in 2011-12 and made the playoffs for the first time in over a decade(!), losing again to the Devils in the opening round. However, the club stumbled over the next two years, finishing at or near the bottom of the league standings. One interesting stat I found to illustrate just how bad the Panthers were around this time was that Nick Bjugstad led the team in scoring in 2013-14 with a measly 38 points – the lowest team-leading points total ever in an 82-game season! Another rebuild around 2013-15 brought improvements, with a new head coach, the reacquisition of Luongo, and the drafting of stars such as Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad. By 2015-16 the team had turned its fortunes around so well that it finished with another division title and its best record ever. Unfortunately the season came to an end with yet another first-round exit at the hands of the New York Islanders.

Things fell apart shortly thereafter as the Panthers failed to make the playoffs for another three seasons between 2017-19. But by the 2019-20 season (after multiple new head coaches) things had finally levelled off. Since then the Panthers have been a consistently competitive club, earning a playoff spot every year and even winning a few rounds. How about that? During this time the Panthers finally became the challenging rivals they were always meant to be to fellow Florida team Tampa Bay Lightning.

In their twenty-nine NHL seasons the Florida Panthers have qualified for the playoffs nine times, made two Stanley Cup finals appearances, won three division titles, and won one President's Trophy (best regular season record in 2021-22).

Now let's take a look at the best players this franchise has ever had. Only their performances in a Panthers uniform will be considered and only players who have spent at least 220 games as a Panther will be included. Let's go!

Forwards

L-R: Whitney, Jokinen, Barkov

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Ray Whitney (1997-2001)	Jonathan Huberdeau (2013-22)	Pavel Bure (1999-2002)
Rostislav Olesz (2005-11)	Olli Jokinen (2000-08)	Nathan Horton (2003-10)
David Booth (2006-11)	Alexsander Barkov (2013-present)	Radek Dvorak (1995-99, 2007-11)
Peter Worrell (1998-2003)	Brian Skrudland (1993-97)	Scott Mellanby (1993-2001)

For our first forward line we've got the Panthers' all time assist leader Jonathan Huberdeau, who is also second on the team's all-time points list. He is joined by the underrated-yet-consistent playmaker Ray Whitney (227 points in 273 games) and the Russian Rocket Pavel Bure who twice led the NHL in goal-scoring during his time in Florida, with 58- and 59-goal campaigns. (Bure was previously selected for my all-time Canucks team in October 2017.) The second line features some tight defensive work from Olesz (who kept a consistent +/- for some pretty weak teams), and the scoring prowess of Nathan Horton (5x20 goals) and Olli Jokinen (3x30 goals, 4x65 points). Smooth skater and forechecker David Booth (3x20 goals), two-way specialist Barkov (4x70 points), and defensive anchor Radek Dvorak (+8 overall while playing on some lacklustre squads) make up the third line. And on the fourth trio we've got the team's first captain Skrudland, a key contributor in the franchise's early years; the feared enforcer Worrell (1375 total penalty minutes); and the Rat Man himself, power forward Scott Mellanby (354 total points).

Honourable mentions: Evgenii Dadonov, Bill Lindsay, Rob Neidermayer, Stephen Weiss

Defencemen

L-R: Bouwmeester, Laus

Jay Bouwmeester (2002-09)	Brian Campbell (2011-16)
Robert Svehla (1995-2002)	Aaron Eckblad (2014-present)
Ed Jovanovski (1995-99, 2011-14)	Paul Laus (1993-2002)

For the first defensive pairing we've got what I think are the two most versatile d-men that have ever played for Florida. Both Brian Campbell (376 consecutive games) and Jay Bouwmeester (5 seasons without missing a game, 3x40 points) were skilled skaters and iron men who could shut down opposition and contribute on the offence. Both Svehla (4x40 points) and Eckblad (8x10 goals) add even more offence from the blueline. Meanwhile the third pairing adds some toughness from Jovanovski (also on the all-time Canucks team) and gritty defensive work from fan-favourite Paul Laus.

Honourable mentions: Erik Gudbranson, Gord Murphy

Goaltending

Luongo

Roberto Luongo (2000-06, 2014-19)

John Vanbiesbrouck (1993-98)

This one was a pretty easy call to make. While the Beezer did have some great seasons in the 1990's, Roberto Luongo is undoubtedly the most talented netminder that Florida has had. Although the team didn't experience much success during his tenure, Luongo was often the guy carrying the whole team. Quick, durable (4x60 games), and highly competitive, he stole the show regularly. Trading him away in 2006 was the biggest mistake Florida ever made. (He's also the starting goaltender of my all-time Canucks team.)

Honourable mention: Tomas Vokoun

Was Corporal Upham a Coward? (Saving Private Ryan)

 As you can probably guess one of my favourite movies ever is 1998's Saving Private Ryan (see my article from November 2016). As one of the greatest war films ever made it touches upon a range of themes and topics for discussion, from the ideals of duty and patriotism to the realities of war's violence and moral ambiguity. One thing that jumps out at me whenever I'm with someone watching this movie for the first time is their reaction to Corporal Timothy Upham seizing up during the movie's climatic battle in the town of Ramelle and failing to intervene in a hand-to-hand fight which results in his comrade Private Stanley Mellish getting killed by a German soldier's knife. Almost invariably the new viewer criticizes Upham for not climbing those stairs and lifting a finger to rescue Mellish. In a mixture of frustration and disbelief they dismiss Upham as a coward, but personally I've always thought that this was an unfair criticism of this character. Here's why.

We first meet staff assistant Upham as he's being recruited into Captain Miller's squad to serve as their interpreter. Upon hearing that their destination has “a lot of Germans,” the corporal explains that he has no combat experience; in fact he hasn't fired even fired a weapon since his basic training, implying that he never underwent infantry training. Herein lies Upham's biggest weakness: his lack of training makes him ill-prepared for the stress of combat. People often question why boot camp drill instructors are so mean and verbally abusive towards their recruits. Some believe that they're trying to make the recruits into unthinking automatons that will obey any order given. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real reason for this is that the drill instructors are conditioning their recruits to think under pressure, preparing them for the high-stress situations they will have to work under some day. In the movie Jarhead, the Marine drill instructor chides Private Swofford: “You can't think while I'm giving you a few love taps?! How the f--- are you going to fire your rifle when grenades are going off in your face?!” This is the purpose behind live-fire exercises. The more risky and realistic the training, the better-prepared the recruit will be – technically, tactically, and mentally – to handle the danger, chaos, and sheer terror of combat. Without this psychological preparation, the average person's reaction to high-stressed situations will simply be determined by their fight-or-flight instinct.

In addition, proper training and conditioning is what prepares a soldier to kill. To the average person – especially a mid-20^th century American – the act of killing somebody is abhorrent and does not come naturally. It is something most people need to be trained into doing. This is summed up in a famous quote by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket: “Your rifle is only a tool. It is the hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth; you will not kill.” Sometimes even infantry training didn't do the trick. There have been multiple post-war studies that concluded that a large percentage of US troops in the Second World War (as well as in Korea and Vietnam) did not shoot to kill; in fact, some never even fired their weapon in battle at all!

In movies it's common for there to be a “new guy” type of character, one who's uninitiated and not used to the environment he/she is now in. It's a tried-and-true method to give the audience someone to identify with, a means through which the viewer can become acquainted with the setting of the story. Timothy Upham is this type of character. Like much of the film's audience he has no combat experience and he is horrified at the events going on around him. Just like with his lack of infantry training, Upham's lack of experience makes it harder for him to handle the stress of battle. War changes you psychologically.

This is demonstrated at around Saving Private Ryan's halfway point in which Miller's squad assaults a lone German machine gun pit, capturing it and taking one prisoner at the cost of their medic, Wade. The other squad members expect to execute the prisoner, nicknamed “Steamboat Willie.” They know they can't bring prisoners with them and they want to kill the German in revenge for Wade but Upham protests, claiming that such a thing would be morally wrong and “against the rules.” It's clear that he still clings to the value of human life and decency. A heated argument ensues, ending with the squad releasing the prisoner even though it endangers their mission. Later on near the film's conclusion Steamboat Willie has rejoined his comrades and takes part in the Battle of Ramelle, delivering a fatal shot to Capt. Miller. Upham – after his breakdown and Mellish's death – captures Willie, recognizes him, and then shoots him dead. By now Upham has learned that soldiers in war must be ruthless when faced with tough decisions. He now knows what it means to be a soldier in combat. He is a changed man.

Unfortunately the change came too late to save Private Mellish because Corporal Upham couldn't work up the nerve to intervene in the knife fight. It is true that is was a failure on Upham's part, but to only focus on this one scene would be unfair when you consider all the other things he did during this battle. Throughout the battle at Ramelle Upham supplies ammunition to the machine gunners as they shift position. To do so this untrained staff clerk has to run through German machine gun fire as well as dodge tank fire while buildings are being blown up all around him. He witnesses his comrades – men braver and more experienced than him – get shot apart and literally blown to pieces. He wasn't expecting to go through any of this stuff, and yet he maintains his composure. But he can only take so much; it's only when he hears the sounds of a savage hand-to-hand fight going on upstairs that he finally cracks under the stress and is unable to go on any further.

It may be easy to curse out this character for not having the fortitude to intervene in a fight to save a life, but how many of us have been in the same situation? Corporal Upham, a man who wasn't prepared nor expecting to go through combat, just wanted to live. Is that any different from your ordinary movie-goer?

Was Timothy Upham wrong for not saving Stanley Mellish? Yes he was, but I implore you: don't be too quick to judge.