Carter Verhaeghe Made Panthers History... yet Nobody's Really Talking About it
Let's do a deep dive into Carter Verhaeghe's season and see just how rare and impressive what he's achieved this year truly is.
Most of the time when discussing the Florida Panthers this season, it’s been about injuries, inconsistent play, coaching, porous defense, suspect goaltending, or how Matthew Tkachuk is putting the team on his back and trying to carry them to the playoffs. One guy who doesn’t really get talked about though is Carter Verhaeghe.
Arguably Bill Zito’s best ever free agent acquisition after signing a 2-year, $2 million contract ($1 million cap hit) before the shortened 2020-21 season after Tampa Bay didn’t issue him a qualifying offer, Verhaeghe has been a consistent scoring threat in the top six during his entire tenure in Sunrise and was the main catalyst behind their first round win over the Washington Capitals in the 2022 playoffs, the franchise’s first series win since 1996. This year, however, Verhaeghe has taken his game to new heights and put up a season rarely ever seen in franchise history.
At the time of writing (right before the Panthers' home game against the Ottawa Senators), Verhaeghe has 40 goals and 30 assists in 77 games played this season, greatly eclipsing his previous career best in both goals and points set in the 2021-22 season (24 goals, 55 points in 78 games played). The 40 goal number is what is the most impressive as that achievement not only is an incredible one, but it’s also, in the context of Panthers history, historic in its magnitude.
Before Verhaeghe scored his 40th goal of the year on April 1st in the 7-0 demolition of the moribund Columbus Blue Jackets, only one player in the entire history of the franchise had ever scored more than 40 goals in a season: Pavel Bure, who did it twice, scoring 58 in 1999-2000 and 59 in 2000-2001. Even in their career-best seasons for the Panthers, franchise legends like Olli Jokinen and Scott Mellanby never scored 40 in a season. Jokinen’s career best was 39 in 2006-07 and Mellanby’s career best was 32 in 1995-96. Even Aleksander Barkov to this point has not scored 40 goals in a season; his career best is 39 goals, which he achieved last season. Think about that: the last time the Florida Panthers had a player score 40 goals in a season, the Miami Heat hadn’t even drafted Dwayne Wade yet.
Verhaeghe earned his reputation as an elite top-six goal scorer thanks to his wicked wristshot and his dogged determination. He won the hearts of Panthers fans after his incredible effort in the 2022 playoffs, scoring 6 goals and almost single-handedly carrying the team to the second round (Side Note: Verhaeghe was the only Panther to put up more than a point per game in the ‘22 playoffs, scoring 12 points in 10 games), but he has not skipped a beat in the 2022-23 season. In a year where so many of the team’s stars have been snakebitten by bad luck, injuries, or inconsistent form, Verhaeghe has remained as reliable as ever and continues to make his current contract, paying him slightly under $4.2 million per year until 2025, look like an absolute bargain and now he’s etched his name into the history books alongside Pavel Bure; that’s not exactly bad company.
Matthew Tkachuk, currently with 39 goals, seems to be on pace to add his name to that list of 40-goal scorers in Panthers’ franchise history (which would give the team their first ever season with multiple 40-goal scorers), but just for now, let’s focus on Carter Verhaeghe, who arrived in South Florida in October 2020 without much fanfare or headlines, but who has just achieved something only achieved by ONE other player in franchise history to date. I know the NHLPA players’ poll said that Aleksander Barkov is the most underrated player in hockey, but I think Carter Verhaeghe has a very good case to at least be in that conversation. He has more goals than Auston Matthews so far (Matthews has 38) and is tied on goals with Jack Hughes and is tied for 9th in the entire NHL in goals scored. He’s having an incredible season, a historic season and it needs to be talked about more among our fanbase. Through all the turmoil, all the malaise, all the inconsistency, Carter Verhaeghe remained unbothered and put up a season the Panthers haven’t seen in over 20 years. Let’s give him the recognition he deserves for it, not just one tweet or one post; the magnitude of what Carter Verhaeghe achieved this year is worth far more than that. He’s earned a real moment in the Sun for what he’s done this year. I say we give it to him.
Thumbnail Credit: The Canadian Press via TSN.com