Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists and consistently look to update them when necessary and based on necessity. As such, we are delighted to present our post-2023-24 revision of our top 50 Florida Panthers.
As for all of our top 50 players in hockey, we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.
Last year, Florida finally did it! They won their first Stanley Cup championship with a deep and talented squad. As this franchise formed in the 1990s, last season’s accomplishments led to one of the most significant changes ever in our 50 franchise lists.
As always, we present our top five, which saw some significant changes:
1. Roberto Luongo
2. Alexsander Barkov
3. Jonathan Huberdeau
4. Aaron Ekblad
5. John Vanbiesboruck
You can find the entire list here.
Again, as this is still a young franchise, the changes were huge.
It was very tempting to put Barkov at #1, and perhaps it is a mistake not to have done so. Barkov captained the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup, but Luongo was a first ballot Hall of Famer. An average Barkov season will easily place Barkov at #1.
Aaron Ekblad, who was #5, moved up one spot to #4.
Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who was third in Vezina Trophy voting, rocketed to #10 from #19.
We might have made a mistake in not ranking Sam Reinhart last year. That has been corrected, and the sniper who lit the lamp 57 times last year is here at #18.
Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who began his second run in Florida last season, climbed to #21 from #26.
2022/2023 Second Team All-Star Matthew Tkachuk rocketed to #25 from #42.
Defenseman Gustav Forsling reached #26 from #35.
Center Carter Verhaeghe went to #28 from #34.
Defenseman Brandon Montour, who is now with Seattle, advanced from #36 to #30.
Center Sam Bennett jumped ten spots to #39.
We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.
The problem with running a Hall of Fame-related website is that many of the big ones we cover all have announcements within months of each other. The backbone of what we do is list-related, resulting in a long push to revise what we already have, specifically now with our Football Hockey and Basketball Lists.
At present, we have a minor update as we have completed the next ten of the 2024 Hockey List, which you can comment on and vote on:
The new 61 to 70:
61. Teppo Numminen
62. Brian Bellows
63. Sandis Ozolinsh
64. John Vanbiesbrouck
65. Wendel Clark
66. Shane Doan
67. Rick Vaive
68. Larry Aurie
69. Tim Kerr
70. Adam Graves
Rankings are impacted annually based on your comments and votes.
Thank you all for your patience. We will soon unveil more changes to the football and basketball lists.
Yes, we know that this is taking a while!
As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team. That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity. As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Florida Panthers.
As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:
1. Advanced Statistics.
2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Hockey League.
3. Playoff accomplishments.
4. Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.
Last year, Florida had an excellent post-season, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals after shocking the Boston Bruins in the opening round. Last year resulted in three new entries, and several elevations.
As always, we present our top five, which had no changes:
1. Roberto Luongo
5. Aaron Ekblad
You can find the entire list here.
Notably, Barkov was unable to surpass Luongo for the #1 spot, and remains at #2. In addition, Ekblad also was not able to move up from his #5 rank.
Goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, reached #19 from #23.
Forward, Carter Verhaeghe, is the first of two entries, coming in at #34.
Gustav Forling made it to #35 from #45.
The second of four new entries is Brandon Montour, who enters at #36.
Forward, Matthew Tkachuk, makes his first appearance at #42.
The last new entrant is Sam Bennett, who appears it at #49.
Completing the alterations is current San Jose Shark. Anthony Duclair, who was traded during last season, and fell behind newer entrants, but did enough to remain. He is at #50.
We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.
John Vanbiesbrouck’s career may be best described by just “missing out”. He achieved great success as a New York Ranger was but outplayed by Mike Richter who won the starting job and “Beezer” was shipped out before he could see the Rangers win that elusive Cup. His best work was with the Florida Panthers where he gave that team “legitimacy” and actually took that team to a Stanley Cup berth where he again “missed out” on winning. John Vanbiesbrouck seemingly had many very good seasons but not exactly a great one, or a career-defining moment. His total of 374 career NHL wins is impressive, but he just lacked that intangible that makes it possible for the Hall to keep him out.