2017–18 Florida Panthers season

The 2017–18 Florida Panthers season was the 24th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 14, 1993. The Panthers missed the playoffs for the second straight season, despite recording 96 points, tied with the 2014–15 Boston Bruins and 2018–19 Montreal Canadiens for the most by a team to miss the playoffs.

2017–18 Florida Panthers
Division	4th Atlantic
Conference	9th Eastern
2017–18 record	44–30–8
Home record	27–11–3
Road record	17–19–5
Goals for	248
Goals against	246
Team information
General manager	Dale Tallon
Coach	Bob Boughner
Captain	Derek MacKenzie
Alternate captains	Aleksander Barkov Aaron Ekblad Vincent Trocheck Keith Yandle
Arena	BB&T Center
Average attendance	13,851
Minor league affiliate(s)	Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Vincent Trocheck (31)
Assists	Aleksander Barkov (51)
Points	Aleksander Barkov (78)
Penalty minutes	Micheal Haley (212)
Plus/minus	Jared McCann (+11)
Wins	James Reimer (22)
Goals against average	Roberto Luongo (2.47)

Standings

Atlantic Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	ROW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	z – Tampa Bay Lightning	82	54	23	5	48	296	236	+60	113
2	x – Boston Bruins	82	50	20	12	47	270	214	+56	112
3	x – Toronto Maple Leafs	82	49	26	7	42	277	232	+45	105
4	Florida Panthers	82	44	30	8	41	248	246	+2	96
5	Detroit Red Wings	82	30	39	13	25	217	255	−38	73
6	Montreal Canadiens	82	29	40	13	27	209	264	−55	71
7	Ottawa Senators	82	28	43	11	26	221	291	−70	67
8	Buffalo Sabres	82	25	45	12	24	199	280	−81	62

Source: National Hockey League
x – Clinched playoff spot; z – Clinched conference

Eastern Conference Wild Card

Pos	Div	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	ROW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	ME	x – Columbus Blue Jackets	82	45	30	7	39	242	230	+12	97
2	ME	x – New Jersey Devils	82	44	29	9	39	248	244	+4	97
3	AT	Florida Panthers	82	44	30	8	41	248	246	+2	96
4	ME	Carolina Hurricanes	82	36	35	11	33	228	256	−28	83
5	ME	New York Islanders	82	35	37	10	32	264	296	−32	80
6	ME	New York Rangers	82	34	39	9	31	231	268	−37	77
7	AT	Detroit Red Wings	82	30	39	13	25	217	255	−38	73
8	AT	Montreal Canadiens	82	29	40	13	27	209	264	−55	71
9	AT	Ottawa Senators	82	28	43	11	26	221	291	−70	67
10	AT	Buffalo Sabres	82	25	45	12	24	199	280	−81	62

Source: National Hockey League
x – Clinched playoff spot

Schedule and results

Preseason

The preseason schedule was released on June 9, 2017.

2017 preseason game log: 4–1–1 (Home: 2–0–0 ; Road: 2–1–1)
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Recap
1	September 19	Florida	5–3	Nashville		Sateri	—	1–0–0	Recap
2	September 19	Florida	2–3	Nashville	OT	Montembeault	—	1–0–1	Recap
3	September 24	Florida	4–2	Tampa Bay		Reimer	12,911	2–0–1	Recap
4	September 26	Tampa Bay	2–4	Florida		Luongo	8,242	3–0–1	Recap
5	September 28	Tampa Bay	2–5	Florida		Reimer	13,279	4–0–1	Recap
6	September 29	Florida	1–3	Montreal		Luongo	21,288	4–1–1	Recap

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 22, 2017.

2017–18 game log
October: 4–6–1 (Home: 3–2–1 ; Road: 1–4–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 October 6 Florida 3–5 Tampa Bay Luongo 19,092 0–1–0 0 Recap 2 October 7 Tampa Bay 4–5 Florida Reimer 16,871 1–1–0 2 Recap 3 October 12 St. Louis 2–5 Florida Luongo 10,846 2–1–0 4 Recap 4 October 14 Florida 3–4 Pittsburgh Reimer 18,582 2–2–0 4 Recap 5 October 17 Florida 1–5 Philadelphia Luongo 19,145 2–3–0 4 Recap 6 October 20 Pittsburgh 4–3 Florida Reimer 15,756 2–4–0 4 Recap 7 October 21 Florida 4–1 Washington Reimer 18,506 3–4–0 6 Recap 8 October 24 Florida 1–5 Montreal Reimer 21,302 3–5–0 6 Recap 9 October 26 Anaheim 3–8 Florida Reimer 10,545 4–5–0 8 Recap 10 October 28 Detroit 3–2 Florida SO Reimer 13,085 4–5–1 9 Recap 11 October 30 Tampa Bay 8–5 Florida Niemi 9,493 4–6–1 9 Recap
November: 6–6–1 (Home: 2–2–1 ; Road: 4–4–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 12 November 2 Columbus 7–3 Florida Reimer 9,311 4–7–1 9 Recap 13 November 4 NY Rangers 5–4 Florida OT Luongo 15,036 4–7–2 10 Recap 14 November 7 Florida 1–3 Carolina Luongo 8,828 4–8–2 10 Recap 15 November 10 Florida 4–1 Buffalo Luongo 17,812 5–8–2 12 Recap 16 November 11 Florida 1–2 New Jersey Reimer 16,514 5–9–2 12 Recap 17 November 14 Dallas 3–4 Florida SO Luongo 10,928 6–9–2 14 Recap 18 November 16 Florida 2–0 San Jose Luongo 16,411 7–9–2 16 Recap 19 November 18 Florida 0–4 Los Angeles Reimer 18,230 7–10–2 16 Recap 20 November 19 Florida 2–3 Anaheim Luongo 17,174 7–11–2 16 Recap 21 November 22 Toronto 1–2 Florida SO Luongo 15,256 8–11–2 18 Recap 22 November 25 Chicago 4–1 Florida Luongo 14,302 8–12–2 18 Recap 23 November 27 Florida 3–2 New Jersey Luongo 13,184 9–12–2 20 Recap 24 November 28 Florida 5–4 NY Rangers Reimer 17,376 10–12–2 22 Recap
December: 7–4–3 (Home: 5–2–1 ; Road: 2–2–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 25 December 1 San Jose 2–1 Florida Luongo 12,323 10–13–2 22 Recap 26 December 2 Florida 2–3 Carolina OT Reimer 14,246 10–13–3 23 Recap 27 December 4 NY Islanders 5–4 Florida SO Reimer 11,210 10–13–4 24 Recap 28 December 7 Winnipeg 4–6 Florida Reimer 10,768 11–13–4 26 Recap 29 December 9 Colorado 7–3 Florida Reimer 13,821 11–14–4 26 Recap 30 December 11 Florida 2–1 Detroit OT Reimer 19,515 12–14–4 28 Recap 31 December 12 Florida 2–3 Chicago OT Reimer 21,795 12–14–5 29 Recap 32 December 14 Florida 1–2 Colorado Reimer 13,096 12–15–5 29 Recap 33 December 17 Florida 2–5 Vegas Reimer 17,593 12–16–5 29 Recap 34 December 19 Florida 3–2 Arizona Reimer 10,203 13–16–5 31 Recap 35 December 22 Minnesota 2–4 Florida Reimer 13,259 14–16–5 33 Recap 36 December 23 Ottawa 0–1 Florida Reimer 13,694 15–16–5 35 Recap 37 December 28 Philadelphia 2–3 Florida Reimer 17,083 16–16–5 37 Recap 38 December 30 Montreal 0–2 Florida Reimer 18,013 17–16–5 39 Recap
January: 3–6–1 (Home: 1–2–0 ; Road: 2–4–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 39 January 2 Florida 1–5 Minnesota Reimer 19,029 17–17–5 39 Recap — January 4 Florida — Boston Postponed due to the effects of the January 2018 nor'easter, rescheduled to April 8 40 January 5 Florida 2–4 Detroit Reimer 19,515 17–18–5 39 Recap 41 January 7 Florida 2–3 Columbus SO Reimer 16,535 17–18–6 40 Recap 42 January 9 Florida 7–4 St. Louis Reimer 18,783 18–18–6 42 Recap 43 January 12 Calgary 4–2 Florida Reimer 14,519 18–19–6 42 Recap 44 January 19 Vegas 3–4 Florida OT Reimer 17,468 19–19–6 44 Recap 45 January 20 Florida 3–4 Nashville Sateri 17,441 19–20–6 44 Recap 46 January 23 Florida 1–6 Dallas Sateri 17,987 19–21–6 44 Recap 47 January 25 Washington 4–2 Florida Sateri 14,033 19–22–6 44 Recap 48 January 30 Florida 4–1 NY Islanders Sateri 10,423 20–22–6 46 Recap
February: 9–3–0 (Home: 5–1–0 ; Road: 4–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 49 February 1 Florida 4–2 Buffalo Sateri 16,707 21–22–6 48 Recap 50 February 3 Detroit 2–3 Florida Sateri 17,987 22–22–6 50 Recap 51 February 6 Vancouver 1–3 Florida Sateri 10,758 23–22–6 52 Recap 52 February 9 Los Angeles 3–1 Florida Sateri 14,099 23–23–6 52 Recap 53 February 12 Florida 7–5 Edmonton Reimer 18,347 24–23–6 54 Recap 54 February 14 Florida 4–3 Vancouver Reimer 17,412 25–23–6 56 Recap 55 February 17 Florida 6–3 Calgary Luongo 19,289 26–23–6 58 Recap 56 February 18 Florida 2–7 Winnipeg Reimer 15,321 26–24–6 58 Recap 57 February 20 Florida 0–1 Toronto Luongo 18,961 26–25–6 58 Recap 58 February 22 Washington 2–3 Florida Luongo 15,312 27–25–6 60 Recap 59 February 24 Pittsburgh 5–6 Florida Luongo 17,581 28–25–6 62 Recap 60 February 27 Toronto 2–3 Florida OT Luongo 14,265 29–25–6 64 Recap
March: 10–5–2 (Home: 7–2–0 ; Road: 3–3–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 61 March 1 New Jersey 2–3 Florida Luongo 10,846 30–25–6 66 Recap 62 March 2 Buffalo 1–4 Florida Reimer 12,759 31–25–6 68 Recap 63 March 4 Philadelphia 1–4 Florida Luongo 14,428 32–25–6 70 Recap 64 March 6 Florida 4–5 Tampa Bay OT Luongo 19,092 32–25–7 71 Recap 65 March 8 Montreal 0–5 Florida Luongo 14,901 33–25–7 73 Recap 66 March 10 NY Rangers 3–4 Florida SO Luongo 16,712 34–25–7 75 Recap 67 March 12 Ottawa 5–3 Florida Luongo 11,585 34–26–7 75 Recap 68 March 15 Boston 0–3 Florida Reimer 16,067 35–26–7 77 Recap 69 March 17 Edmonton 4–2 Florida Luongo 14,192 35–27–7 77 Recap 70 March 19 Florida 2–0 Montreal Luongo 21,302 36–27–7 79 Recap 71 March 20 Florida 7–2 Ottawa Reimer 14,434 37–27–7 81 Recap 72 March 22 Florida 0–4 Columbus Luongo 16,919 37–28–7 81 Recap 73 March 24 Arizona 2–4 Florida Reimer 14,905 38–28–7 83 Recap 74 March 26 Florida 3–0 NY Islanders Reimer 10,951 39–28–7 85 Recap 75 March 28 Florida 3–4 Toronto Luongo 18,893 39–29–7 85 Recap 76 March 29 Florida 2–3 Ottawa OT Reimer 15,095 39–29–8 86 Recap 77 March 31 Florida 1–5 Boston Reimer 17,565 39–30–8 86 Recap
April: 5–0–0 (Home: 4–0–0 ; Road: 1–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 78 April 2 Carolina 2–3 Florida Luongo 10,619 40–30–8 88 Recap 79 April 3 Nashville 1–2 Florida Luongo 12,147 41–30–8 90 Recap 80 April 5 Boston 2–3 Florida Luongo 14,860 42–30–8 92 Recap 81 April 7 Buffalo 3–4 Florida Reimer 16,254 43–30–8 94 Recap 82 April 8 Florida 4–2 Boston Reimer 17,565 44–30–8 96 Recap
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Player statistics

As of April 9, 2018

Skaters

Regular season

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Aleksander Barkov	79	27	51	78	9	14
Vincent Trocheck	82	31	44	75	−9	54
Jonathan Huberdeau	82	27	42	69	−2	32
Evgenii Dadonov	74	28	37	65	10	8
Keith Yandle	82	8	48	56	7	35
Nick Bjugstad	82	19	30	49	5	41
Aaron Ekblad	82	16	22	38	9	71
Jamie McGinn	76	13	16	29	−5	33
Jared McCann	68	9	19	28	11	30
Michael Matheson	81	10	17	27	−1	61
Colton Sceviour	76	11	13	24	6	24
Denis Malgin	51	11	11	22	4	6
Mark Pysyk	82	3	13	16	−8	20
Radim Vrbata	42	5	9	14	−7	16
Derek MacKenzie	75	3	11	14	−9	31
Alex Petrovic	67	2	11	13	−2	98
Connor Brickley	44	4	8	12	−6	19
Micheal Haley	75	3	6	9	−13	212
Frank Vatrano†	16	5	3	8	6	12
MacKenzie Weegar	60	2	6	8	5	32
Maxim Mamin	26	3	1	4	2	7
Ian McCoshen	38	3	1	4	−10	25
Henrik Borgstrom	4	1	0	1	−1	0
Owen Tippett	7	1	0	1	−6	0
Henrik Haapala	5	0	1	1	0	0
Dryden Hunt	11	0	1	1	−5	2
Chase Balisy	8	0	0	0	−2	0
Curtis Valk	1	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
James Reimer	44	42	2,411:25	22	14	6	120	2.99	1373	.913	4	0	1	4
Roberto Luongo	35	33	1,965:58	18	11	2	81	2.47	1143	.929	3	0	2	0
Harri Sateri	9	7	492:36	4	4	0	24	2.92	271	.911	0	0	0	0
Antti Niemi†‡	2	0	58:42	0	1	0	5	5.11	39	.872	0	0	0	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Panthers. Statistics reflect time with the Panthers only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Statistics reflect time with the Panthers only.
Bold denotes season record.

Transactions

The Panthers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2017–18 season.

Trades

Date	Details		Ref
June 21, 2017 (2017-06-21)	To Vegas Golden Knights Reilly Smith	To Florida Panthers 4th-round pick in 2018
November 10, 2017 (2017-11-10)	To Dallas Stars Reece Scarlett	To Florida Panthers Ludvig Bystrom
December 19, 2017 (2017-12-19)	To Edmonton Oilers Future considerations	To Florida Panthers Gregory Chase
February 22, 2018 (2018-02-22)	To Boston Bruins 3rd-round pick in 2018	To Florida Panthers Frank Vatrano
June 19, 2018 (2018-06-19)	To San Jose Sharks 2nd-round pick in 2019 4th-round pick in 2018 5th-round pick in 2018	To Florida Panthers Mike Hoffman 7th-round pick in 2018

Free agents acquired

Date	Player	Former team	Contract terms (in U.S. dollars)	Ref
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Connor Brickley	Vegas Golden Knights	1-year, $750,000
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Evgenii Dadonov	SKA St. Petersburg	3-year, $12 million
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Micheal Haley	San Jose Sharks	2-year, $1.65 million
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Harri Sateri	Vityaz Podolsk	1-year, $750,000
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Curtis Valk	Utica Comets	1-year, $682,500 entry-level contract
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Radim Vrbata	Arizona Coyotes	1-year, $2.5 million
July 2, 2017 (2017-07-02)	Alexandre Grenier	Vancouver Canucks	1-year, $725,000
September 22, 2017 (2017-09-22)	Edward Wittchow	Springfield Thunderbirds	1-year, $670,000
November 20, 2017 (2017-11-20)	Anthony Greco	Springfield Thunderbirds	1-year, $660,000
March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09)	Patrick Bajkov	Everett Silvertips	3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract
June 1, 2017 (2017-06-01)	Bogdan Kiselevich	CSKA Moscow	1-year, $650,000

Free agents lost

Date	Player	New team	Contract terms (in U.S. dollars)	Ref
April 27, 2017 (2017-04-27)	Tim Bozon	EHC Kloten	1-year
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Adam Wilcox	Buffalo Sabres	1-year
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Brent Regner	Dallas Stars	1-year
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Kyle Rau	Minnesota Wild	1-year, $700,000
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Paul Thompson	Vegas Golden Knights	1-year, $650,000
July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01)	Michael Sgarbossa	Winnipeg Jets	1-year, $650,000
July 5, 2017 (2017-07-05)	Brody Sutter	Manitoba Moose	1-year
July 7, 2017 (2017-07-07)	Jussi Jokinen	Edmonton Oilers	1-year, $1.1 million
August 8, 2017 (2017-08-08)	Colin Stevens	Wheeling Nailers	1-year
August 21, 2017 (2017-08-21)	Sam Brittain	San Antonio Rampage	Unknown
September 1, 2017 (2017-09-01)	Thomas Vanek	Vancouver Canucks	1-year, $900,000
August 29, 2017 (2017-08-29)	Graham Black	University of Calgary	Unknown
October 4, 2017 (2017-10-04)	Jaromir Jagr	Calgary Flames	1-year, $1 million
October 18, 2017 (2017-10-18)	Jakub Kindl	HC Plzeň	Unknown

Claimed via waivers

Player	Previous team	Date	Ref
Antti Niemi	Pittsburgh Penguins	October 24, 2017 (2017-10-24)

Lost via waivers

Player	New team	Date	Ref
Antti Niemi	Montreal Canadiens	November 14, 2017 (2017-11-14)

Lost via retirement

Date	Player	Ref

Player signings

Date	Player	Contract terms (in U.S. dollars)	Ref
June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30)	Chase Balisy	1-year, $650,000
June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30)	Reece Scarlett	1-year, $675,000
June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30)	Alex Petrovic	1-year, $1.85 million
July 2, 2017 (2017-07-02)	Sebastian Repo	3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract
July 6, 2017 (2017-07-06)	Mark Pysyk	3-year, $8.2 million
July 19, 2017 (2017-07-19)	Owen Tippett	3-year, $4.975 million entry-level contract
August 3, 2017 (2017-08-03)	MacKenzie Weegar	1-year, $675,000
October 7, 2017 (2017-10-07)	Mike Matheson	8-year, $39 million contract extension
November 16, 2017 (2017-11-16)	Jonathan Ang	3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract
February 12, 2018 (2018-02-12)	Colton Sceviour	3-year, $3.6 million contract extension
March 4, 2018 (2018-03-04)	Riley Stillman	3-year, $2.7 million entry-level contract
March 27, 2018 (2018-03-27)	Henrik Borgstrom	3-year, $4.475 million entry-level contract
May 31, 2018 (2018-05-31)	Josh Brown	2-year, $1.35 million contract extension
May 31, 2018 (2018-05-31)	Ludvig Byström	1-year, $650,000 contract extension

Draft picks

See also: List of Florida Panthers draft picks

Below are the Florida Panthers' selections at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 23 and 24, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	10	Owen Tippett	RW	Canada	Mississauga Steelheads (OHL)
2	40	Aleksi Heponiemi	C	Finland	Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
3	661	Max Gildon	D	United States	U.S. NTDP (USHL)
5	133	Tyler Inamoto	D	United States	U.S. NTDP (USHL)
6	1842	Sebastian Repo	C	Finland	Tappara (Liiga)

Draft notes:

1. The Arizona Coyotes' third-round pick went to the Florida Panthers as the result of a trade on August 25, 2016, that sent Dave Bolland and Lawson Crouse to Arizona in exchange for a conditional second-round pick in 2018 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Florida will receive the better of Arizona or Detroit's third-round picks in 2017 – was converted on March 29, 2017, when Detroit clinched a better regular season record than Arizona for the 2016–17 NHL season.
2. The Anaheim Ducks' sixth-round pick went to the Florida Panthers as the result of a trade on December 4, 2014, that sent Colby Robak to Anaheim in exchange for Jesse Blacker and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition — Florida will receive a sixth-round pick in 2017 dependent on how many games Robak played for Anaheim during the 2014–15 NHL season — the date of conversion is unknown.

References