Quenneville has already transformed Panthers, but ‘you only remember the playoff series’

Joel Quenneville didn’t understand just the extent of the Florida Panthers’ playoff futility when he took over as coach in 2019.

The last time the Panthers won a playoff series, he was behind the opponent’s bench for the Stanley Cup Finals as an assistant coach for the Colorado Avalanche as it beat Florida in the championship. The first of his three Stanley Cups as a head coach was still more than a decade away. Since the Panthers last won a playoff series, Quenneville has won 23, been hired four times and fired twice and gone from zero career wins to 961 — the second most in NHL history.

“When I first got the job, I wasn’t aware of that stat and it was like, OK,” he said Monday with a mix of shock, confusion and even pity in his voice. “I was surprised.”

A quarter of a century has passed since Florida won its first — and only — three playoff series to reach the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals in only its third season of existence. In the seasons since, the Panthers have only qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs six times and one of those trips came last year when they were one of 22 teams invited to the expanded postseason because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have only been the higher seed in the first round four times, and they were on the wrong end of an upset in three of those series.

This year presents the best chance to snap the drought. Florida finished the best regular season in franchise history Monday with a 4-0 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Sunrise and now its set for a rematch against the Lightning in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs this weekend at the BB&T Center.

Panthers rout Tampa — and dominate another fight — to clinch home ice for playoff rematch

Quenneville, who got fired from his first job as coach of the St. Louis Blues in 2004 despite seven straight appearances in eight years because he never reached the Cup Finals, knows as well as anyone: All that matters is what happens come playoff time.

“You only remember the playoff series, the big moments, the rivalries that are created from playoff series, like it’s going to happen with us and Tampa,” Quenneville said. “We’ve waited all year long to get to this moment and a lot of positives to take with ourselves, but confidence in the right place with a lot of respect.”

The Cup playoffs — or, more accurately, the lack of trips to them — have come to define this era for the Panthers.

Star forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, top-three picks in the 2011 and 2013 NHL Entry Drafts, have been to the traditional 16-team playoffs only once and lost in the first round. Star defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, one of the NHL’s breakout performers this season, has never been to the traditional playoffs.

Those three are 27, 25 and 27, respectively, and have combined for a total seven postseason wins. The core isn’t so young anymore.

“We’ve got to take that next step,” Quenneville said. “We’ve got some young guys that are at that stage of their careers where they’re great young players, but you have to win to have that credential next to your career of finding ways to be a winner. I think a lot of guys are measured by what they do and accomplish in the playoffs, and it’ll be a good test for us across the board against a team that knows how.”

For four months, this season has been different. The Panthers finished with their best points percentage ever, more total points than they managed in eight other full 82-game seasons and more wins than losses for only the seventh time. Their plus-36 goal differential was tied for the best in franchise history, despite the abbreviated 56-game schedule.

Barkov was on pace for the third-most goals in franchise history and has a chance to be a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy. Huberdeau was on pace for third most assists and fifth-most points, and might get consideration for the NHL All-Star team. Quenneville should win the Jack Adams Award and general manager Bill Zito should win the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.

Panthers rout Tampa — and dominate another fight — to clinch home ice for playoff rematch

History, though, only truly gets remember when it’s made in the playoffs.

“There’s just an incredible energy in the room right now,” said goaltender Chris Driedger, who finished his season tied for third in save percentage. “Guys feel great. We’ve had a ton of fun. Closing the season off like that’s been as good as we can ask for.”