While Quebec has been waiting for the return of the Nordiques for many years, American states with much warmer climates such as Arizona and Florida are entitled to ice hockey in the National League (NHL), even if their teams have long struggled to fill their respective arenas.
The case of the Coyotes and the small Mullett Arena, a roughly 4,600-seat facility where they are playing their second season, has been widely discussed by the media, which is still skeptical about the benefits of the idea. Furthermore, Commissioner Gary Bettman appears to want to continue to defend the relevance of training in a place where hockey is far from attracting crowds. However, the Panthers’ history proves the NHL’s big boss right, at least these days.
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The franchise has long been a laughingstock of the circuit, particularly due to some pretty crazy promotions (granting free tickets to all Florida driver’s license holders is a good example) and empty booths that numbered in the thousands at the BB&T Center in Sunrise this from head coach Paul Maurice’s men’s participation in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final to regain popularity.
In fact, after 10 home games, the Panthers average 18,126 spectators per home game; four of them were sold out and 94.2% of the available tickets were sold. So that’s a significant improvement because last season the average was less than 17,000 people. Before the pandemic, Florida had a difficult time in this regard: suffice it to mention the number of 13,262 amateurs in 2018-2019.
“It’s great,” club general manager Bill Zito told NHL.com about the improvement in attendance. It was nice to see what happened here. We interact with fans so often. It’s been great fun to see the people who have cheered us on over the years and it’s very exciting to enjoy this team and the players’ personalities.”
Success on the ice
Heading into Tuesday’s visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs on TVA Sports, the Panthers were in second place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 13-7-1. If Zito and his bosses hope to play in an arena full of fans, the group of hockey players must continue their successful path.
Except that the presence of chief trainer Paul Maurice calms the CEO down.
“He hasn’t changed since the day he was hired, even though we had a difficult start. He has empathy for the players, but also organizes himself in a way that holds everyone accountable. He is honest, there is a relationship of trust between him and the ice hockey players. He has a plan and it is not the result of arbitrary preparation. Zito emphasized that he is working and sticking to his plans. He played hundreds of games, right? He has a bit of experience…”