Florida Panthers

Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo announced his retirement from the NHL on Wednesday.

Luongo, who also played for the Vancouver Canucks and New York Islanders during a 19-year professional career, wrote an open letter to his fans about the decision.

"This is one of the toughest decisions I've faced in my life, and it took me a long time to make it," he explained. "After thinking about it a lot over the past two months and listening to my body, I made up my mind. It just feels like the right time for me to step away from the game."

The 40-year-old had three seasons left on the 12-year, $64 million contract he originally signed with the Canucks in 2009.

New York selected Luongo with the fourth overall pick in the 1997 NHL draft. He made his NHL debut with the Isles during the 1999-2000 campaign but ended up making just 24 appearances for the organization before getting traded to Florida in June 2000.

He spent 11 seasons with the Panthers across two stints sandwiched around an eight-year run in Vancouver.

Luongo struggled with injuries in recent seasons, however, which prevented him from taking on a workhorse role. He said those issues factored into his decision, and he detailed the moment he knew it was time to call it quits in the open letter.

"Then thinking about getting onto the ice in late July, for the first time in my career, I wasn't excited about it," he wrote. "That was the sign for me. It's not that I don't love playing hockey anymore, but I had to listen to my body. I'm at the point where my body was telling me it just needed a rest. It didn't really want to get going."

The Montreal native finishes his NHL career as the owner of a 614-489-124 record with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage across 1,044 regular-season appearances.

His resume features six All-Star Game selections and splitting the William M. Jennings Trophy with Canucks teammate Cory Schneider for the 2010-11 season.

Luongo never captured the Stanley Cup as a player—"but perhaps I can still put my name on it in another way. It wouldn't be quite the same, but it would still be quite the accomplishment," he wrote, hinting at a possible front-office or coaching role—but he did win five gold medals while playing for Canada, two in the Olympics, two in the World Championship and one in the World Cup.

Any new jobs will have to wait, as the goaltender wrote he's going to let his body rest and spend time with his kids before deciding his next step.

For the first time in eight seasons, a member of the Florida Panthers won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

On Wednesday, Aleksander Barkov beat out Sean Monahan of the Calgary Flames and Ryan O'Reilly of the St. Louis Blues for the NHL's sportsmanship award.

Since the official definition of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy states it is given to the player "who exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability," few players would be more deserving than Barkov.

The 2018-19 season was another leap forward for Barkov. The 23-year-old set career highs with 35 goals, 61 assists and 96 points in 82 games. He is also terrific at avoiding the penalty box, drawing just 34 minor penalties and eight penalty infraction minutes.

This marks the second straight year Barkov has been a finalist for the award. He finished third in 2017-18, behind William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights and O'Reilly.

In addition to Barkov's career year, his 96 points also set a Panthers franchise record, surpassing Pavel Bure's 94 in 1999-00.

Barkov became only the second Panthers player in franchise history to be awarded the Lady Byng Trophy, with the other being former defenseman Brian Campbell.

The Florida Panthers did not have to wait long to find their new head coach.

General manager Dale Tallon announced Joel Quenneville will take over on the bench Monday, a day after the team fired Bob Boughner.

Tallon said:

"Joel is a three-time Stanley Cup champion head coach who will be a transformative leader for the Florida Panthers franchise. We've seized the opportunity to add one of the most successful head coaches in hockey history, and we're thrilled that Joel has agreed to take on the challenge of leading our promising young team.

"I've worked with Joel previously and have seen firsthand how his passion for the game, head coaching experience and leadership can impact an organization. Joel will accelerate our growth into a club that qualifies for the playoffs consistently and competes every year toward our goal of winning the Stanley Cup."

The Panthers likely sought to act fast because the Philadelphia Flyers were pushing to hire Quenneville, per Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post.

Quenneville, 60, is the second-winningest NHL coach in history with 890 wins. He's coming off more than a decade on the Chicago Blackhawks bench, where he won three Stanley Cups and made the postseason nine times. The Blackhawks fired Quenneville 15 games into the 2018-19 season.

Quenneville also previously coached the St. Louis Blues from 1996 to 2004 and the Colorado Avalanche from 2005 to 2008. His teams have made the playoffs 18 times in 22 seasons.

The Panthers, meanwhile, have made the postseason five times in their entire existence. The franchise has missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons and has not advanced past the first round since 1996—when the Panthers made a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Avalanche.

The Florida Panthers fired head coach Bob Boughner after two seasons with the team, general manager Dale Tallon announced Sunday. 

"We made a tough decision today and have relieved Bob Boughner of his duties as head coach," Tallon said. "We didn't meet expectations this season and share responsibility for that fact. After careful evaluation, we have determined that this is a necessary first step for our young team and we will seek to identify a transformative, experienced head coach with Stanley Cup pedigree to lead our team going forward. We're grateful to Bob, Paul and their families for their hard work and their dedication to the Panthers organization and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors."

The Panthers went 36-32-14 in 2018-19, missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season under Boughner. Their 86 points were 10 fewer than Boughner's first season in Florida.

The team also announced the firing of assistant coach Paul McFarland.

Florida has made the postseason just five times since the club's inaugural season in 1993-94. The franchise has made the playoffs just twice in the last 18 seasons and has regularly struggled to develop stars or attract high-profile free agents.

Tallon is in his second tenure as Panthers general manager after taking over the role in 2017 from Tom Rowe, who was Tallon's successor. Tallon previously served as the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, helping build the roster that won the 2010 Stanley Cup. 

Ariana Grande must have said "Thank you, next" to the first hockey puck that struck her as a young child because it wouldn’t be the last time it happened.

The musician shared a story from when she was five years old and attending Florida Panthers games that revealed she was struck by a puck twice, saying "started from the bottom now we here." It made her the first fan at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, to be struck by a puck:

A 2015 Fox Sports article noted she was raised a Panthers fan in Boca Raton, Florida, and would attend games.

The NHL invited her to return to an arena and watch some more hockey, although it would be understandable if she was hesitant:

Maybe she should return as a goaltender because her ability to deflect pucks and keep it moving is clearly second to none.