Huberdeau leaving his mark on record books
Jonathan Huberdeau is one point shy of tying the franchise record for career points. But despite leading the team in several offensive categories, his goal is to lead the Panthers to the Stanley Cup.
The rise of Jonathan Huberdeau began in the opening minutes of his career with the Panthers.
Early into the second shift of his NHL debut, a 19-year-old Huberdeau camped out in front of the Hurricanes’ net, took a short pass from Peter Mueller and flicked the puck past goaltender Cam Ward.
It was the start of an eventual three-point debut for Huberdeau, who added the primary assist on each of the Panthers’ final two goals of the night scored by Scottie Upshall and Alex Kovavel in the 5-1 win on Jan. 19, 2013, to begin a lockout-shortened NHL season.
“Welcome to the NHL, kid,” Fox Sports Florida play-by-play announcer Steve Goldstein said on the television broadcast as he called Huberdeau’s goal. “Wow. It didn’t take long for Jonathan Huberdeau to make a mark.”
It has been almost seven years since that debut. The points have piled up since then.
And Huberdeau is leaving his mark on the Panthers’ record book.
He set the franchise record for career assists earlier in the season. After a two-assist night against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, Huberdeau now stands one point shy of matching the Panthers’ record for all-time points.
He could very easily pass Olli Joniken’s mark of 419 points in a Panthers uniform on the back half of this four-game homestand, which continues Sunday against the Toronto Maple
Leafs and concludes Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings.
The 26-year-old Canadian winger acknowledges the rare company his name is joining after his breakout production over the past two seasons. However, his hope — his expectation — is that he is remembered for something much bigger in South Florida by the time his hockey career comes to an end.
“With the points, it’ll be nice to make history,” Huberdeau said, “but that’s just an extra for my game. I’d rather win the Stanley Cup than be first in the points.”
Huberdeau and fellow top-line forward Aleksander Barkov have paced one of the highest-scoring offenses in the NHL during the past couple of years. That will likely need to continue if Florida wants to avoid missing the playoffs for the sixth time in Huberdeau’s eight seasons with the club.
The Panthers enter Friday with 51 points on a 23-16-5 record, which puts them a point shy of being in a three-way tie with the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes for the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card spots.
“The points have been coming,” Huberdeau said, “but I think we obviously want to do better every day. I want to be ready for the team. We’re not where we want to be as a team. That’s all that matters. I want to help the team every game. Obviously, there’s been some good games, but I have to get better consistently.”
Even at that, Huberdeau has been the Panthers’ most consistent offensive playmaker this season.
Huberdeau leads the club this season in assists (42), points (59), evenstrength points (39) and power-play points (20). His 17 goals are tied with Noel Acciari for second most on the team and trail just Evgenii Dadonov’s 19 on the roster. He will participate in his first career NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 25.
This comes a year after he set the Panthers’ singleseason record with 62 assists, a mark he very well could reset again this year.
“The numbers are pretty amazing this year,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said.
It’s a sign of how much Huberdeau has matured and his game has progressed since the Panthers drafted him with the third overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. Huberdeau has always been a gifted passer, but it got to the point when opponents were able to scout him too easily because they anticipated he would feed the puck to his teammates instead of trying to bury a shot himself.
“I’m always going to have that pass-first mentality,” Huberdeau said, “but sometimes I have to change my mind and say, ‘OK, you have to shoot some pucks.’
“It was a big adjustment. When I was passing too much, coaches were getting a little rattled that I wouldn’t shoot. Now, I’m able to decide quickly in my head a little more.”
“He’s at that level where he can ‘wow’ you. There’s not too many guys who have that ability,” Quenneville said. “It’s nice to watch him be able to do that. He enhances our power play, our 5-on-5 play, our possession as well. I think he’s getting better as the year goes on. Being a complete player without the puck is something he’s improving on. His overall instincts offensively are, they’re in a great spot.”
Having a good on-ice rapport with Barkov has been beneficial, too.
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Maple Leafs, 168 of Huberdeau’s 418 career points (or just more than 40 percent) have involved Barkov in some way, shape, or form, according to the advanced hockey statistics website NaturalStatTrick.com.
58 of his 276 assists (21.01 percent) came on Barkov goals.
54 of his 142 goals (38.03 percent) have included Barkov assists.
56 of his assists (20.28 percent) have come with Barkov also receiving an assist.
“Barky is the best player a teammate could ask for,” Huberdeau said. “He’s unbelievable with his abilities. Having the chance to play with him is a bonus. I couldn’t ask for a better person to play with.”
Huberdeau’s teammates could easily say the same thing about him.
Like Acciari, who has Huberdeau to credit for helping start his hot streak over the past month. Acciari has scored a dozen goals in the past dozen games and had back-to-back hat tricks on Dec. 16 and 20 while playing on the same line as Huberdeau.
“He’s special with the puck,” Acciari said, “and he can find guys backdoor, probably one of the best in the league. I’ll stand there all day if I have to.”
Or Mike Hoffman, a regular benefactor of Huberdeau’s passes on the power play. Huberdeau has assists on 14 of Hoffman’s 23 goals with the manadvantage over the past two seasons.
None was possibly more breathtaking than his assist on Hoffman’s goal Thursday that put Huberdeau on the doorstep of tying Jokinen.
With the Panthers holding a two-goal lead over the Vancouver Cancuks early in the second period, Huberdeau picked up the puck from the boards on the left side of the net. He stopped directly in the middle of the left circle, knocked over Vancouver defenseman Christopher Tanev with a quick toe drag and slid the puck across the ice and past the net to Hoffman. Hoffman’s one-timer from the right circle went past Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko.
“That was a wow-wow play,” Quenneville said after the 5-2 win. “Pretty amazing patience and play recognition. Obviously, Hoff’s got to hit the perfect shot. He did.
“But it was more than a perfect pass.”
And like Barkov, who has said he would rather give up his own scoring chance if it meant helping Huberdeau pick up a milestone.
“Whoever’s on the ice,” Quenneville said, “he’s given them looks in some pretty good spots.”
He has put the Panthers as a whole in a pretty good spot as well. His hope — his expectation — is that this is just the start.
“I want to play here for the rest of my career,” Huberdeau said. “Obviously, you have to win. That’s how you stay on the team.”