Verhaeghe scored a career high 42 goals last season, adding 7 more during the playoffs
Carter Verhaeghe has grown into one of the most exciting Florida Panthers players to watch, regardless of where he is on the ice.
Sure, scoring over 40 goals in a season will give you a nice highlight reel, but Verhaeghe’s ability and tenacity as a 200-foot player who never hesitates to dive into the boards and come out with the puck is what earned him the ice time to show what he could do offensively.
Taking a closer look into his numbers, it does lead to an interesting question.
During his three seasons with the Panthers, Verhaeghe’s goal and point totals have gone up each year.
Last season he exploded for 42 goals, giving him 84 in just 202 games in a Florida sweater.
That’s incredibly impressive, but get ready for the really crazy part.
Verhaeghe has done all that goal scoring while getting minimal time on the power play.
Of those 84 goals, all but nine of them have come at even strength, and one of those nine was shorthanded.
It’s almost unbelievable to think that a guy who scored 84 goals in a 202-game span only lit the lamp eight times on the power play.
The same has been true during the playoffs.
In 37 postseason games with the Panthers, Verhaeghe has logged 15 goals and 32 points. Of those, one goal and one assist have come on the power play.
Verhaeghe, who turns 28 next month, is still just entering the prime years of his career.
His style of play should allow him to continue to flourish in Florida’s tight-checking systems, as he did last season.
But what if he starts getting more power play time?
The two players locked into PP1 are Matthew Tkachuk and Sasha Barkov. If Florida continues to work the same style of power play, you can add Sam Reinhart as bumper on that list, as he’s been a part of the majority of Florida’s scoring while up a man, either by doing it himself or facilitating the puck among his teammates.
Should the Panthers go with a four-forward PP1, Verhaeghe could be a candidate for that fourth spot, along with newcomer Evan Rodrigues, or perhaps a young, ascending player that will emerge during training camp.
A five-forward PP1 would only those opportunities that much more for the aforementioned contenders.
In either situation, you’d have to think that Verhaeghe’s goal-scoring prowess would put him at the top of the list.
Should that day ever come, with Verhaeghe getting top power play minutes, it doesn’t seem inconceivable that he could push for a 50-goal campaign.
With either or both of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour possibly missing time early next season, it leaves some moves to be made on special teams, and allows for some potential creativity on the part of the coaching staff.
We’ll just have to wait and see what, if anything, that mean’s for Verhaeghe.