Like any good college student, I procrastinated writing this article and now I’m racing against the clock to get this out by puck drop. Over the last four games, the Panthers have gone 4-2-0, with a sweep of the Dallas Stars in Finland, a dominant win over Nashville, a shootout win over a gritty Philadelphia team and back to back home losses to the New Jersey Devils. Here are some observations I took from those games.

Observation #1: He is Inevitable– The last 13 months have seen the rise of Sam Reinhart into a true NHL superstar. Reinhart broke out in 2023-24 to go from an excellent supporting cast member to one of the Panthers headliners, by scoring 57 goals and earning himself an 8 year extension, following his Stanley Cup clinching goal. Reinhart’s torrid pace has continued this season. At the time of writing, Florida’s number 13 leads the NHL in goals with 13. Reinhart has also found the back of the net in 11 of Florida’s 17 games this season. He’s also on pace to be the first Panther to ever clinch the 60 goals in a season marker.

Observation #2: Can’t Run with the Devils– Admittedly, I wasn’t really paying much attention to either of the Panthers contests against New Jersey, as I was busy with extracurriculars on Tuesday and Thursday, but the Panthers performances against the Devils were not up to par, and let one of my friends get bragging rights on me for the foreseeable future. The Panthers just seemed sluggish against the Devils and couldn’t really get anything going. We will see what happens against the Jets, but the Panthers are better than what they showed against New Jersey.

Observation #3: What Happened to Matthew Tkachuk?– After an electric first season in Sunrise, Matthew Tkachuk has toned down his aggressive play, but this has come at a cost. His point production dropped in Year 2. While he was dragging the Panthers along with Bobrovsky in the 2023 playoffs, it seemed more like he was a bit of a passenger on the Barkov-Reinhart-Bobrovsky led train that was the 2024 Panthers. He’s staying out of the box more, but while that helps the Panthers, it also hurts them. Tkachuk is a heart and soul player, he cannot tone down his antics or aggressiveness, or it affects the rest of his game. He just seems to be off, maybe he’s battling an injury.

Observation #4: Absence of Montour Beginning to Show– The most significant cap casualty of the 2023-24 Florida Panthers was the loss of Brandon Montour. Montour played a crucial role on the blueline, quarterbacking the Panthers powerplay over the last two seasons, and serving as a solid puck mover. The Panthers have tried to replace his output with both Adam Boqvist and Uvis Balinskis, but both have seemingly struggled to do so. Aaron Ekblad doesn’t have the dynamic speed to quarterback a powerplay anymore, and Dmitry Kulikov is an exclusive defensive defenseman. I’m wondering if the Panthers should start using Gustav Forsling on the Power Play and in Extra Attacker scenarios. Forsling has the dynamic speed, a brilliant wrist shot and is the team’s undisputed best defenseman. However, it seems that Paul Maurice doesn’t want to overextend the Swede’s time on ice. However, I wonder at some point, if he decides to give Forsling the chance, because he is clearly the best suited on the roster to fit into the role Montour played.

Observation #5: Jonah Gadjobeast– The best men’s boxing match of the week took place on Tuesday night (not overall, bc Serrano v. Taylor was insane), not in Jerryworld, but on ice in Sunrise. Jonah Gadjovich and Brendan Dillon went haymaker for haymaker, resulting in what many have said was the fight of the year in the NHL. Gadjovich also fought Kurtis MacDermid on Thursday, and in each fight, threw more punches himself than in the entire Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight. Overall, I’d say he beat Dillon but lost to MacDermid. Either way, still a beast, and I think he would beat Jake Paul in the ring.

Observation #6: What is Embellishment?– Yeah after seeing the Matthew Tkachuk call and Jack Hughes non call, I’m confused