# 2011–12 Florida Panthers season

The 2011–12 Florida Panthers season was the 18th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 14, 1993.
The Panthers qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 12 years after their previous playoff appearance in 2000, and also won their division for the first time. However, the Panthers could not further their progress, losing in the opening round to the New Jersey Devils, who would go on to be the Stanley Cup runner-up. The Panthers had a 3–2 lead in the series before losing Games 6 and 7 to be eliminated from the playoffs.

## Off-season

On June 1, 2011, the Panthers introduced their new head coach, former NHL player Kevin Dineen. Dineen had spent the previous six seasons coaching the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League (AHL).

## Regular season

    See the game log below for detailed game-by-game season information.
The Panthers had their first quality season in over a decade in 2011–12, having never finished above third place in the Southeast Division since 1999–2000. Despite losing more games than they won, competition for the Panthers within the Division was not fierce, and the team was in third place in the Eastern Conference as the Southeast Division leader throughout much of the season. Although the Panthers amassed more losses than wins, 18 of these losses were in overtime or a shootout (the highest number of any team in the NHL for the 2011–12 season), meaning Florida often gained a point even when they failed to win.

## Playoffs

The Panthers clinched a playoff berth on April 5, 2012, securing the return of playoff hockey to South Florida for the first time in 12 years. The third-seeded Panthers had home ice advantage by virtue of winning their division, despite the sixth-seeded New Jersey Devils besting them in regular season point totals (102 to 94). The Devils won the first game of the series, but the Panthers bounced back with a win in Game 2 to even the series as it headed to New Jersey. The Panthers would return the favor by winning Game 3, 4–3, but the Devils recorded a shutout in Game 4, 4–0. The Panthers returned home to play Game 5 and were one win away from winning their first post-season series since 1996 after notching a shutout of their own, 3–0. The series went back to New Jersey for the final time of the series, with the home team tying the series after winning Game 6 in overtime, the first extra period of the series. The seventh and deciding game went even longer than Game 6 after the Panthers managed to score two power-play goals in the third period to force overtime. The game—and series—was still even after the completion of one extra period. Less than four minutes into the second overtime, the first shot on goal by either team was recorded by Devils rookie center Adam Henrique and notched his second goal of the game and deciding goal of the series, eliminating the Panthers from the playoffs, 3–2.

## Standings

Southeast Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
| 2 | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
| 4 | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
| 5 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |
Eastern Conference :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | AT | z – New York Rangers | 82 | 51 | 24 | 7 | 47 | 226 | 187 | +39 | 109 |
| 2 | NE | y – Boston Bruins | 82 | 49 | 29 | 4 | 40 | 269 | 202 | +67 | 102 |
| 3 | SE | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
| 4 | AT | x – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 51 | 25 | 6 | 42 | 282 | 221 | +61 | 108 |
| 5 | AT | x – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 43 | 264 | 232 | +32 | 103 |
| 6 | AT | x – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 36 | 228 | 209 | +19 | 102 |
| 7 | SE | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
| 8 | NE | x – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 35 | 249 | 240 | +9 | 92 |
| 9 | NE | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 32 | 218 | 230 | −12 | 89 |
| 10 | SE | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
| 11 | SE | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
| 12 | SE | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |
| 13 | NE | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 31 | 231 | 264 | −33 | 80 |
| 14 | AT | New York Islanders | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 27 | 203 | 255 | −52 | 79 |
| 15 | NE | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 31 | 35 | 16 | 26 | 212 | 226 | −14 | 78 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

Legend :
| Panthers Win | Panthers Regulation Loss | Panthers OT/Shootout Loss | ASG |
| Boldface text denotes a Panthers goalie ||||
2011–12 Game Log :

### Playoffs

Legend :
| Panthers Win | Panthers Loss |
| Boldface text denotes a Panthers goalie ||
2011–12 Playoff Game Log :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 82 | 27 | 34 | 61 | −7 | 26 |
| Stephen Weiss | 80 | 20 | 37 | 57 | 5 | 60 |
| Kris Versteeg | 71 | 23 | 31 | 54 | 4 | 49 |
| Brian Campbell | 82 | 4 | 49 | 53 | −9 | 6 |
| Jason Garrison | 77 | 16 | 17 | 33 | 6 | 32 |
| Tomas Kopecky | 80 | 10 | 22 | 32 | −8 | 32 |
| Mikael Samuelsson$^†$ | 48 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 2 | 14 |
| Dmitri Kulikov | 58 | 4 | 24 | 28 | −5 | 36 |
| Marcel Goc | 57 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 5 | 10 |
| Shawn Matthias | 79 | 10 | 14 | 24 | −2 | 49 |
| Sean Bergenheim | 62 | 17 | 6 | 23 | −5 | 48 |
| Mike Weaver | 82 | 0 | 16 | 16 | -2 | 14 |
| Ed Jovanovski | 66 | 3 | 10 | 13 | −11 | 31 |
| Mike Santorelli | 60 | 9 | 2 | 11 | −10 | 18 |
| Jack Skille | 46 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −9 | 28 |
| Wojtek Wolski$^†$ | 22 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −3 | 0 |
| Matt Bradley | 45 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 31 |
| Erik Gudbranson | 72 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −19 | 78 |
| Marco Sturm$^†$ | 42 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −8 | 23 |
| Krys Barch$^†$ | 41 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 91 |
| Scottie Upshall | 26 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −3 | 29 |
| Michal Repik | 17 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −3 | 6 |
| Keaton Ellerby | 40 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −3 | 10 |
| John Madden | 31 | 3 | 0 | 3 | −4 | 4 |
| Tyson Strachan | 15 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Evgenii Dadonov$^‡$ | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −4 | 2 |
| Tim Kennedy$^‡$ | 27 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −11 | 4 |
| Jerred Smithson$^†$ | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Mark Cullen | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Bill Thomas | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| David Booth$^‡$ | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −6 | 2 |
| Nolan Yonkman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bracken Kearns | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Jon Matsumoto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Rallo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Colby Robak | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Carter$^‡$ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 6 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Sean Bergenheim | 7 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −2 | 4 |
| Brian Campbell | 7 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −2 | 2 |
| Mikael Samuelsson | 7 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -1 | 2 |
| Stephen Weiss | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| Marcel Goc | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Kris Versteeg | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Scottie Upshall | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 |
| Jason Garrison | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| Jerred Smithson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 2 |
| Mike Weaver | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Tomas Kopecky | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 4 |
| Tyson Strachan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Shawn Matthias | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 6 |
| Dmitri Kulikov | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −4 | 4 |
| Ed Jovanovski | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| Marco Sturm | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 4 |
| John Madden | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |
| Wojtek Wolski | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| Keaton Ellerby | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Erik Gudbranson | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 8 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals; GAA= Goals against average; SA= Shots against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts
Regular season :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Jose Theodore | 53 | 3049 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 125 | 2.46 | 1502 | .917 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Scott Clemmensen | 30 | 1566 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 67 | 2.57 | 773 | .913 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jacob Markstrom | 7 | 383 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 2.66 | 222 | .923 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Foster | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Jose Theodore | 5 | 268 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 2.46 | 135 | .919 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Clemmensen | 3 | 179 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2.35 | 88 | .920 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Panthers. Stats reflect time with Panthers only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and records
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Erik Gudbranson | 1st Career NHL Game | October 8, 2011 |
| Bracken Kearns | 1st Career NHL Game | October 20, 2011 |
| Jacob Markstrom | 1st Career NHL Win | October 22, 2011 |
| Jack Skille | 100th Career NHL Game | October 24, 2011 |
| Tomas Kopecky | 100th Career NHL Point | October 29, 2011 |
| Marcel Goc | 400th Career NHL Game | October 31, 2011 |
| Marco Sturm | 900th Career NHL Game | October 31, 2011 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 100th Career NHL Assist | November 10, 2011 |
| Erik Gudbranson | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | December 1, 2011 |
| Tim Kennedy | 100th Career NHL Game | December 1, 2011 |
| Jose Theodore | 600th Career NHL Game | December 8, 2011 |
| Erik Gudbranson | 1st Career NHL Goal | December 11, 2011 |
| Kris Versteeg | 100th Career NHL Assist | December 11, 2011 |
| Greg Rallo | 1st Career NHL Game | December 18, 2011 |
| Stephen Weiss | 600th Career NHL Game | January 18, 2012 |
| Brian Foster | 1st Career NHL Game | February 4, 2012 |
| Kris Versteeg | 300th Career NHL Game | February 7, 2012 |
| Keaton Ellerby | 100th Career NHL Game | February 9, 2012 |
| Tomas Fleischmann | 200th Career NHL Point | February 12, 2012 |
| Colby Robak | 1st Career NHL Game | February 12, 2012 |
| Tyson Strachan | 1st Career NHL Goal | February 12, 2012 |
| Tomas Kopecky | 400th Career NHL Game | March 3, 2012 |
| Krys Barch | 300th Career NHL Game | March 13, 2012 |
| Brian Campbell | 300th Career NHL Assist | March 15, 2012 |
| Brian Campbell | 700th Career NHL Game | March 23, 2012 |
| Shawn Matthias | 200th Career NHL Game | March 27, 2012 |
| Mike Weaver | 500th Career NHL Game | April 1, 2012 |
| Kris Versteeg | 200th Career NHL Point | April 3, 2012 |

## Transactions

The Panthers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 24, 2011 | To Chicago BlackhawksRostislav Olesz | To Florida PanthersBrian Campbell |
| June 25, 2011 | To San Jose Sharks2nd-round pick (47th overall) in 2011 | To Florida Panthers2nd-round pick (59th overall) in 2011 3rd-round pick in 2012 |
| June 27, 2011 | To Chicago BlackhawksConditional 7th-round pick in 2012 | To Florida PanthersTomas Kopecky |
| July 1, 2011 | To Philadelphia FlyersConditional 2nd-round pick in 2012 3rd-round pick in 2012 | To Florida PanthersKris Versteeg |
| July 9, 2011 | To Winnipeg JetsKenndal McArdle | To Florida PanthersAngelo Esposito |
| July 9, 2011 | To Calgary FlamesJordan Henry | To Florida PanthersKeith Seabrook |
| July 9, 2011 | To Vancouver CanucksMike Duco | To Florida PanthersSergei Shirokov |
| September 8, 2011 | To Phoenix CoyotesMarc Cheverie | To Florida PanthersJustin Bernhardt |
| October 22, 2011 | To Vancouver CanucksDavid Booth Steven Reinprecht 3rd-round pick in 2013 | To Florida PanthersMikael Samuelsson Marco Sturm |
| December 2, 2011 | To Tampa Bay Lightning Michael Kostka Evan Oberg | To Florida Panthers Michael Vernace James Wright |
| December 7, 2011 | To Dallas Stars Jake Hauswirth 5th-round pick in 2012 | To Florida Panthers Krys Barch 6th-round pick in 2012 |
| January 13, 2012 | To Dallas Stars Angelo Esposito | To Florida Panthers Ondrej Roman |
| January 18, 2012 | To Carolina Hurricanes Evgenii Dadonov A. J. Jenks | To Florida Panthers Jon Matsumoto Mattias Lindstrom |
| January 26, 2012 | To San Jose Sharks Tim Kennedy | To Florida Panthers Sean Sullivan |
| February 24, 2012 | To Nashville Predators 6th-round pick in 2012 | To Florida Panthers Jerred Smithson |
| February 25, 2012 | To New York Rangers Michael Vernace 3rd-round pick in 2013 | To Florida Panthers Wojtek Wolski |
Lost via retirement
Player
Cory Stillman
Player signings
PlayerDateContract terms
Roman DerlyukMay 31, 20111 year, $710,000 entry-level contract
Jack SkilleMay 31, 20112 years, $1.65 million
Garrett WilsonJune 1, 20113 years, $2.05 million entry-level contract
Mark CullenJune 6, 20111 year, $600,000
Tim KennedyJune 20, 20111 year, $550,000
Tomas KopeckyJune 29, 20114 years, $12 million
Mike SantorelliJuly 6, 20112 years, $3.2 million
Ryan CarterJuly 9, 20111 year, $750,000
Erik GudbransonJuly 15, 20113 years, $2.7 million entry-level contract
Marc CheverieJuly 21, 20111 year, $803,500
Tyler PlanteJuly 21, 20111 year, $721,850
Michael CarusoJuly 25, 20111 year, $550,000
Shawn MatthiasSeptember 9, 20112 years, $1.70325 million
Jonathan HuberdeauOctober 10, 20113 years, $2.775 million entry-level contract
Mike WeaverDecember 30, 20112 years, $2.2 million contract extension
Tyson StrachanFebruary 15, 20121 year, $600,000 contract extension
Drew ShoreMarch 27, 20123 years, $2.7 million entry-level contract
Vincent TrocheckApril 23, 20123 years, $2.0775 million entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

Florida's picks at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 3 | Jonathan Huberdeau | C | Canada | Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL) |
| 2 | 33 | Rocco Grimaldi | C | United States | U.S. National Team Development Program (USHL) |
| 2 | 59 (from San Jose) | Rasmus Bengtsson | D | Sweden | Rogle BK (Allsvenskan) |
| 3 | 64 | Vincent Trocheck | C | United States | Saginaw Spirit (OHL) |
| 3 | 76 (from NY Rangers) | Logan Shaw | RW | Canada | Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 87 (from Washington) | Jonathan Racine | D | Canada | Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 91 (from Boston) | Kyle Rau | C | United States | Eden Prairie High School (USHS-MN) |
| 5 | 124 | Yaroslav Kosov | F | Russia | Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 (MHL) |
| 6 | 154 | Edward Wittchow | D | United States | Burnsville High School (USHS-MN) |
| 7 | 184 | Iiro Pakarinen | RW | Finland | KalPa (SM-liiga) |