Roots of the Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are a National League hockey team that originated in 1993 and have been contending for the playoffs in recent years. Blockbuster video magnate Wayne Huizenga was given an NHL franchise for the state of Florida in 1992 the same day the Walt Disney Company started the Anaheim Ducks.

In April 20, 1993, this franchise had a press conference in which the team announced they would be named the Florida Panthers. The name came from endangered species of a large cat endemic to the nearby Everglades region.

Former four-time Stanley cup winning general manager from the New York Islanders, Bill Torrey, took the duties as the Panthers president of the team and Bobby Clarke was named General Manager.

Hockey has never been a particular known area in Florida as the only other team that plays or has played in is the Tampa Bay Lightning. They originated just a year earlier in 1992.

"I was always a big time hockey fan and moved to Florida in the early 1990's," said Alyssa Lord who is a Panther fan. "I never got into the Lightning, as they were on the other coast, and when the Panthers came to my area, I found a team I could root for. It's kind of ironic to have an ice hockey team in Florida, as I would have never have thought I would have found a team to root for. Maybe football, but not hockey."

For a team that is new to the league, as the Las Vegas Knights will have to do this year, the team is filled with players from the expansion draft and the NHL draft. How the expansion draft works is each team (24 at the time) were allowed to protect one goalie, five defenseman, and nine forwards that would be exempt from being claimed. Also, all first and second year professionals were exempt as well.

Since the Florida Panthers came in the same year as the Anaheim Ducks, 48 players were drafted from the other teams in the NHL.

John Vanbiesbrouck was the first player drafted in the expansion draft from the Vancouver Canucks and Vanbiesbrouck ended up being elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Another interesting part to this expansion draft were three teams including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ottawa Senators, and San Jose Sharks were allowed to claim players off the two new teams since they were in just their second season in the NHL.

The Panthers as well as the Ducks were allowed to keep one goalie, five defensemen, and ten forwards.

Darren Puppa, who was the fifth player selected in the expansion draft by the Panthers, was claimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

To round up the Panther’s roster for their inaugural season in the NHL, along with Vanbiesbrouck, the Panthers had rookie defenseman Rob Niedermayer on their team as well as 30-goal scorer Scott Mellanby who led them.

Niedermayer completed his NHL career with 1,153 games played which puts him ranked 137th for all time games played.

In the Panthers very first game, they travelled to Chicago to face the Blackhawks. The two teams settled for a tie as the game ended 4-4. There were no shootouts back during this time, so there didn't have to be a winner like there is now.

The first ever win for the Panthers came in a shutout of the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0. The game took place at the Thunderdome, where a previous record of 22,227 people came to watch. The Thunderdome is in Tampa Bay and is where the Tampa Bay Rays play their home games in the MLB.

The Panthers played their home games in the Miami arena, as the Panthers current home, the BB&T Center, had not been built yet. That Arena opened up five years later and would be where the Panthers continue to play their home games.

Despite failing to reach the playoffs in their first year of existence, the Panthers had one of the most successful inaugural seasons in the NHL, finishing two points below .500.

"I was pleased with there first season," said Steve Harris, a former season ticket holder for the New York Islanders who moved to Florida. "I will always have my orange and blue roots from my time on Long Island, but having a team now in a Florida I can watch has helped the move down here."

That first season for the new Florida Panther set the bar high and they have only gotten better over the years, though they are still looking for that first Stanley Cup banner.