# 2017–18 Florida Panthers season

The 2017–18 Florida Panthers season was the 24th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 14, 1993. The Panthers missed the playoffs for the second straight season, despite recording 96 points, tied with the 2014–15 Boston Bruins and 2018–19 Montreal Canadiens for the most by a team to miss the playoffs.

## Standings

Atlantic Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | z – Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 54 | 23 | 5 | 48 | 296 | 236 | +60 | 113 |
| 2 | x – Boston Bruins | 82 | 50 | 20 | 12 | 47 | 270 | 214 | +56 | 112 |
| 3 | x – Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 49 | 26 | 7 | 42 | 277 | 232 | +45 | 105 |
| 4 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 44 | 30 | 8 | 41 | 248 | 246 | +2 | 96 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 25 | 217 | 255 | −38 | 73 |
| 6 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 29 | 40 | 13 | 27 | 209 | 264 | −55 | 71 |
| 7 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 28 | 43 | 11 | 26 | 221 | 291 | −70 | 67 |
| 8 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 24 | 199 | 280 | −81 | 62 |
Eastern Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | ME | x – Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 45 | 30 | 7 | 39 | 242 | 230 | +12 | 97 |
| 2 | ME | x – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 44 | 29 | 9 | 39 | 248 | 244 | +4 | 97 |
| 3 | AT | Florida Panthers | 82 | 44 | 30 | 8 | 41 | 248 | 246 | +2 | 96 |
| 4 | ME | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 33 | 228 | 256 | −28 | 83 |
| 5 | ME | New York Islanders | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 32 | 264 | 296 | −32 | 80 |
| 6 | ME | New York Rangers | 82 | 34 | 39 | 9 | 31 | 231 | 268 | −37 | 77 |
| 7 | AT | Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 30 | 39 | 13 | 25 | 217 | 255 | −38 | 73 |
| 8 | AT | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 29 | 40 | 13 | 27 | 209 | 264 | −55 | 71 |
| 9 | AT | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 28 | 43 | 11 | 26 | 221 | 291 | −70 | 67 |
| 10 | AT | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 24 | 199 | 280 | −81 | 62 |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The preseason schedule was released on June 9, 2017.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 22, 2017.
2017–18 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics

As of April 9, 2018

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Aleksander Barkov | 79 | 27 | 51 | 78 | 9 | 14 |
| Vincent Trocheck | 82 | 31 | 44 | 75 | −9 | 54 |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | 82 | 27 | 42 | 69 | −2 | 32 |
| Evgenii Dadonov | 74 | 28 | 37 | 65 | 10 | 8 |
| Keith Yandle | 82 | 8 | 48 | 56 | 7 | 35 |
| Nick Bjugstad | 82 | 19 | 30 | 49 | 5 | 41 |
| Aaron Ekblad | 82 | 16 | 22 | 38 | 9 | 71 |
| Jamie McGinn | 76 | 13 | 16 | 29 | −5 | 33 |
| Jared McCann | 68 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 11 | 30 |
| Michael Matheson | 81 | 10 | 17 | 27 | −1 | 61 |
| Colton Sceviour | 76 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 6 | 24 |
| Denis Malgin | 51 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 4 | 6 |
| Mark Pysyk | 82 | 3 | 13 | 16 | −8 | 20 |
| Radim Vrbata | 42 | 5 | 9 | 14 | −7 | 16 |
| Derek MacKenzie | 75 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −9 | 31 |
| Alex Petrovic | 67 | 2 | 11 | 13 | −2 | 98 |
| Connor Brickley | 44 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −6 | 19 |
| Micheal Haley | 75 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −13 | 212 |
| Frank Vatrano$^†$ | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 12 |
| MacKenzie Weegar | 60 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 32 |
| Maxim Mamin | 26 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| Ian McCoshen | 38 | 3 | 1 | 4 | −10 | 25 |
| Henrik Borgstrom | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| Owen Tippett | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −6 | 0 |
| Henrik Haapala | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dryden Hunt | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −5 | 2 |
| Chase Balisy | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Curtis Valk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| James Reimer | 44 | 42 | 2,411:25 | 22 | 14 | 6 | 120 | 2.99 | 1373 | .913 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Roberto Luongo | 35 | 33 | 1,965:58 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 81 | 2.47 | 1143 | .929 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Harri Sateri | 9 | 7 | 492:36 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2.92 | 271 | .911 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Antti Niemi$^{†‡}$ | 2 | 0 | 58:42 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5.11 | 39 | .872 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Panthers. Statistics reflect time with the Panthers only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Statistics reflect time with the Panthers only. Bold denotes season record.

## Transactions

The Panthers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2017–18 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 21, 2017 (2017-06-21) | To Vegas Golden KnightsReilly Smith | To Florida Panthers4th-round pick in 2018 |
| November 10, 2017 (2017-11-10) | To Dallas StarsReece Scarlett | To Florida PanthersLudvig Bystrom |
| December 19, 2017 (2017-12-19) | To Edmonton OilersFuture considerations | To Florida PanthersGregory Chase |
| February 22, 2018 (2018-02-22) | To Boston Bruins3rd-round pick in 2018 | To Florida PanthersFrank Vatrano |
| June 19, 2018 (2018-06-19) | To San Jose Sharks2nd-round pick in 2019 4th-round pick in 2018 5th-round pick in 2018 | To Florida PanthersMike Hoffman 7th-round pick in 2018 |
Lost via retirement
DatePlayerRef :

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30) | Chase Balisy | 1-year, $650,000 |
| June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30) | Reece Scarlett | 1-year, $675,000 |
| June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30) | Alex Petrovic | 1-year, $1.85 million |
| July 2, 2017 (2017-07-02) | Sebastian Repo | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| July 6, 2017 (2017-07-06) | Mark Pysyk | 3-year, $8.2 million |
| July 19, 2017 (2017-07-19) | Owen Tippett | 3-year, $4.975 million entry-level contract |
| August 3, 2017 (2017-08-03) | MacKenzie Weegar | 1-year, $675,000 |
| October 7, 2017 (2017-10-07) | Mike Matheson | 8-year, $39 million contract extension |
| November 16, 2017 (2017-11-16) | Jonathan Ang | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| February 12, 2018 (2018-02-12) | Colton Sceviour | 3-year, $3.6 million contract extension |
| March 4, 2018 (2018-03-04) | Riley Stillman | 3-year, $2.7 million entry-level contract |
| March 27, 2018 (2018-03-27) | Henrik Borgstrom | 3-year, $4.475 million entry-level contract |
| May 31, 2018 (2018-05-31) | Josh Brown | 2-year, $1.35 million contract extension |
| May 31, 2018 (2018-05-31) | Ludvig Byström | 1-year, $650,000 contract extension |

## Draft picks

Below are the Florida Panthers' selections at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 23 and 24, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 10 | Owen Tippett | RW | Canada | Mississauga Steelheads (OHL) |
| 2 | 40 | Aleksi Heponiemi | C | Finland | Swift Current Broncos (WHL) |
| 3 | 66$^1$ | Max Gildon | D | United States | U.S. NTDP (USHL) |
| 5 | 133 | Tyler Inamoto | D | United States | U.S. NTDP (USHL) |
| 6 | 184$^2$ | Sebastian Repo | C | Finland | Tappara (Liiga) |
Draft notes:
* The Arizona Coyotes' third-round pick went to the Florida Panthers as the result of a trade on August 25, 2016, that sent Dave Bolland and Lawson Crouse to Arizona in exchange for a conditional second-round pick in 2018 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition – Florida will receive the better of Arizona or Detroit's third-round picks in 2017 – was converted on March 29, 2017, when Detroit clinched a better regular season record than Arizona for the 2016–17 NHL season.
* The Anaheim Ducks' sixth-round pick went to the Florida Panthers as the result of a trade on December 4, 2014, that sent Colby Robak to Anaheim in exchange for Jesse Blacker and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The condition — Florida will receive a sixth-round pick in 2017 dependent on how many games Robak played for Anaheim during the 2014–15 NHL season — the date of conversion is unknown.