The Florida Panthers have had quite the recent run of success. From an exciting Presidents’
Trophy winning season where the team went 58-18-6 with 337 goals for, they followed up with
three straight trips to the Stanley Cup final – winning it all the last two, and looking set to extend that success.
After years of moral victories (not relocating), pinning hopes on new coaches (Bob’s Binder) and high draft picks (the ‘stroms, Mark and Borg), potential saviors in veteran free agent signings (Ed Belfour, Alexei Kovalev), and cheering individual players’ successes (Pavel Bure), fans have been treated to what the stability of proper ownership, good management, and player buy-in can do for an organization.
This fan in particular recently commented that I wouldn’t trade 30 years of hitching my wagon to the Panthers for any other team’s 30-year run. This team is special, and every disappointing or out right painful season it took to make it to this point I would choose in a heartbeat to relive so I could experience and appreciate what we have now.
But, what if all of it never was?
Imagine a timeline where the 1993-94 season doesn’t introduce the Florida Panthers to the
the league. Consider the following: What NHL team, if any, would you be a fan of today?
Maybe you were a fan of a team already and dropped them for the Panthers, perhaps you
would have found your way into hockey interest at some point in life if you hadn’t already, or
maybe you never would have gotten into following hockey at all.
A while back I wrote an article looking into how fans might come to choose the teams they cheer for and got input from people here on the site. Some of those factors may apply here. In the comments section, feel free to share your thoughts on which team you think you’d likely have been a fan of at that time and/or which team you would chose today (with 30 years of hindsight) to have been a fan of, for any reason.
My Realistic At-the-time Candidates
Montreal Canadiens / Toronto Maple Leafs
As an east coast Canadian in the days before streaming services, Maple Leafs and Canadiens games were easy-access on TV (CBC/TSN/RDS). In the 1992-93 season I watched some games from both teams – and particularly a bunch of Montreal’s playoff games on their way to the Stanley Cup win. I was in the city on a school trip the day of their celebratory parade.
Winnipeg Jets
Sometime in 1995-96 (I was 17 at the time) my father briefly considered a work relocation to
Winnipeg. I told him I’d be cool with it if I could get season tickets to the Jets. I wasn’t in the loop, so I didn’t realize they were about to close up shop and move. The timing on that one wouldn’t have been ideal.
Anaheim Ducks
I specified Florida didn’t exist – not that expansion didn’t happen. When I learned two new teams were coming into the league I decided I’d pick one and start fresh rather than assimilate into an existing fan base. I did exhaustive research looking into both rosters and their team names and logos and since I didn’t know anything about who any players were at that time and the internet hadn’t been invented yet, I leaned into logos. If you’re choosing between ducks and panthers are you really gonna pick a duck? A duck from a movie franchise?? However, had the only option on the menu been duck, I’d probably have joined the flock.
My 30-year Hindsight Candidates
Potential: Detroit Red Wings
My first thought was Detroit. I had a close friend who was a fan. I could advocate for putting this into the realistic at-the-time section, but I did want my own thing and not to pick a friend’s team. However, it would have been a great decision. It was the early-mid 90s. I would’ve jumped in two seasons before they won four Cups in a 10-year period, going from Steve Yzerman and Sergei Federov and Nicklas Lidström, to Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and still Lidström plus Dominik Hašek. The more recent years would be a little tough – a bit of a reverse Florida scenario but minus the extra bad years. Detroit’s lows probably don’t quite compare to some of those Panthers teams and management.
Probable: Quebec Nordiques / Colorado Avalanche
I would have enjoyed being part of the Nordiques small market niche going against the grain of the Canadiens. The move to Colorado took the steam out of that rivalry though and that would have been a lot of the joy of it. It would have been a Canadian team choice and nobody I knew was a Nordiques fan. They were just getting good at that time and I would have three cups to celebrate (although, bonus question: if Florida didn’t exist does Colorado win in 96?). Quality player content in Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg et al. at the time, with Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar and Co. present day.
Final Verdict
My personal conclusion is that the Florida Panthers have not only provided me with great
pleasure and pride in seeing what they’ve become and accomplished, but they saved me from a hard life of even more painful and embarrassing sports fandom. I was already a Blue Jays fan. Toronto was the team I was looking at just before Florida. I really liked Felix Potvin. They had just set franchise records of 44 wins and 99 points in 92-93. I remember the excitement around their 10-0 start to the 93-94 season (their 8th win was a 4-3 OT win over the Panthers in Florida). They had Wendel Clark, Dave Andreychuk and Doug Gilmour. Mats Sundin was about to join the team a year later. Nazem Kadri, Morgan Rielly and the Core 4 to come about a decade later. If it weren’t for the Florida Panthers, I’d probably have been a Leafs fan.