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2024-25 Florida Panthers Predictions and Odds to Win Stanley Cup Finals

by Ryan Cobbett - 9/12/2024

Florida Panthers predictions Sergei Bobrovsky

You can’t do it any better than Florida did last season. They dominated their way to winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, taking down Edmonton in seven games. After sneaking past Boston for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, Florida dominated their opponents in the postseason. In all, the Panthers went 16-8 in the playoffs and finished with a +11-goal differential. They walked right through Tampa Bay, beating them in five games, before getting past the Bruins and Rangers in six games. Florida also jumped out to a quick three game lead against Edmonton before the Oilers battled back but ultimately fell short in Game 7.

Sam Reinhart had an incredible year that really boosted the Panthers offense. Reinhart led the team with 94 points, which also ranked 12th in the league. His 57 goals were the second most in the NHL behind Auston Matthews. Matthew Tkachuk finished right behind Reinhart with 88 points, as he led the team with 62 assists, which like Reinhart’s points, was good for 12th in the league. Aleksander Barkov was the other Panthers player to reach the 80-point mark, as he finished with 23 goals and 57 assists. Center Carter Verhaeghe finished second on the team with 34 goals, while Tkachuk, Barkov, and Sam Bennett recorded 20 or more goals.

The goaltending was the strength of this team, as they were tied with the Jets atop the league allowing just 2.42 GA/G. Sergei Bobrovsky appeared in 58 games and went 36-17-4, allowing just 2.34 GA/G, which ranked third in the NHL behind Anhtony Stolarz (his backup) and Pyotr Kochetkov. Stolarz led the league with an incredible 2.03 GA/G mark but appeared in just 27 games.

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Seasons come and go, so now it’s time to take a look at what we can expect from the Florida Panthers in 2024/25:

Florida Panthers Key Additions/Losses

Anthony Stolarz departed for division foe Toronto, leaving a big hole in the goalie room for Florida. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (32 points) also left for Toronto, and Nick Cousins (15 points) departed for Ottawa. Blueliner Brandon Montour (33 points) is also gone, as he left for Seattle. Additionally, rentals Kyle Okposo and Vladimir Tarasenko were not retained by Florida after being acquired at the deadline.

Florida lost a significant amount of production, and they had a hard time plugging those holes due to financial restrictions. They brought in veteran forwards Tomas Nosek (six points), A.J. Greer (12 points), and Jesper Boqvist (14 points), along with blueliners Adam Boqvist (10 points) and Nate Schmidt (14 points).

Florida Panthers X-Factors

Depth Questions- Ekman-Larsson and Montour were key contributors all season long for Florida, while Tarasenko proved productive in his 19 games with Florida. Now with all those guys are gone, along with Cousins, leaving some question marks on the third and fourth lines for Florida. Injuries or any regressions from their veteran players and Florida’s season could look a lot different. Not only are there depth questions upfront, but with Stolarz now in Toronto, Bobrovsky’s backup is likely not going to be as reliable.

Florida Panthers Goalie Outlook

Sergei Bobrovsky had an incredible season last year, posting top of the league numbers, allowing just 2.37 GA/G while posting a .915 SV% across 58 games. However, he will be 36 years old by the time the season starts, and his previous four years with Florida were not elite like last year’s performance. It helped that they had Anthony Stolarz, who played out of his mind, allowing just 2.03 GA/G. However, now he is gone, and they have unproven Spencer Knight, who has appeared in just 57 games in his career. He has shown some success, allowing just 2.91 GA/G, but now with the pressures of a winning window, we will see how the 23-year-old holds up as Bobrovsky’s backup.

Grade: B

Florida Panthers Key Schedule Stretch

November 7th-November 16th: This nine day stretch features a five game homestand for the Panthers after their return from Finland. However, this is no cupcake stretch despite being on home ice. The Predators, Flyers, Jets and Devils (twice) come to town, giving the Panthers some tough playoff caliber opponents. Taking advantage of being at home for nine days is extremely beneficial for any team, and Florida can take advantage of beating some tough competition.

Florida Panthers Notable Odds

Stanley Cup Champions: +1000

Conference Winner: +500

Division Winner: +230

Hart Trophy- Matthew Tkachuk: +3000

Hart Trophy- Aleksander Barkov: +10000

Florida Panthers Prediction

The defending champs are significantly weaker than last year’s team. Losing Ekkam-Larsson and Stolarz to Toronto hurts, especially when it propels Toronto ahead of them on paper. Montour and Cousins continue to add to the questionable depth of this team, especially when Florida struggled to plug the holes of those departed role pieces. However, I still like this team to finish near the top of the Atlantic Division and be competitive with Toronto for the top spot. At +230 to win the division, there is some great value there. At the very least though, Florida will hit the over on the point total with relative ease and should make another run, especially with potential deadline additions.

Over 103.5 Team Total Points

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