Florida Panthers Trivia
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99 free Florida Panthers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Florida Panthers trivia quiz follows the NHL's southernmost team from Wayne Huizenga's $50 million expansion fee and the 'Block Busters' name the league rejected, through Roger Neilson's trap, Scott Mellanby's rat, the 1996 run to the Final and Uwe Krupp's triple-overtime goal, Pavel Bure, the Luongo trade, the Bouwmeester draft-day gamble, the record playoff drought, Dale Tallon's blueprint, the Vegas expansion-draft blunder, Sergei Bobrovsky's contract, the Presidents' Trophy, the Tkachuk-Huberdeau swap and Paul Maurice's three straight Finals with two Stanley Cups. The arena, mascots and colours get their own round: Miami Arena and Sunrise, Stanley C. Panther and Viktor E. Ratt, the leaping panther and the shield, and the first retired number. Easy questions suit any Cats fan; the hard ones are for people who remember the Thunderdome crowd of 27,227. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 99 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which businessman, already owner of the Florida Marlins, was awarded the Panthers franchise in December 1992?
Wayne Huizenga
Wayne Huizenga also owned part of the NFL's Dolphins. The Panthers later retired No. 37 for him, a number he never wore: his family chose it because 1937 was his birth year and 37 his lucky number.
Q 02What name did the Panthers' first owner originally want to give the team?
Block Busters
Block Busters would have advertised the video chain that made his fortune. The idea was dropped, and the club took the name of Florida's state animal instead.
Q 03The Panthers franchise was approved on the same day as which other 1993 expansion team?
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were Disney's team, named after the studio's own hit hockey film. The league approved both big-company bids on the same day, and the two clubs began play together ten months later.
Q 04The Panthers are named for an endangered big cat native to which Florida region?
The Everglades
The Everglades and the swamps around them hold the only cougars left in the eastern United States, a single small population, which is why the Florida panther is protected as endangered.
Q 05Who was named the Panthers' first president in 1993?
Bill Torrey
Bill Torrey, famous for his bow ties, had built the 1980s dynasty that won four straight Stanley Cups. His third-year Florida team reached the Final, and the club later retired No. 93 in his honour.
Q 06The Panthers' first coach had his expansion team play a conservative defensive system known as what?
The trap
The trap packs skaters into the neutral zone to smother attacks before they start. It carried Florida's first-year team to 83 points, at the time the most by any NHL club in its first season.
Q 07The Panthers' first win drew a then-record NHL crowd of 27,227 to which Florida venue?
Thunderdome
The Thunderdome was a domed ballpark in St. Petersburg, now Tropicana Field, borrowed for hockey for three seasons. Its sheer size is why NHL attendance records kept falling there.
Q 08Which Panther killed a dressing-room rat in 1995 and scored twice, starting the rubber-rat tradition?
Scott Mellanby
Scott Mellanby one-timed the rat against the wall before the home opener, and a teammate called his two goals a 'rat trick'. By the playoffs fans were throwing more than 2,000 rubber rats.
Q 09The Panthers were swept in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final by which team?
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche had been the Quebec Nordiques a year earlier. The move to Denver paid off at once: a championship in their first season there, in a Final that was a first for both clubs.
Q 10Whose goal in the third overtime of Game 4 ended the 1996 Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers?
Uwe Krupp
Uwe Krupp, a German defenceman, had wrecked his knee in the season's first game and returned only for the last five. His goal, 4:31 into the third overtime, was the only one of the night.
Q 11The Panthers moved in 1998 to a new arena in which Broward County city?
Sunrise
Sunrise, a suburb west of Fort Lauderdale, got the team because the county paid for almost all of the new arena. The move ended the club's five seasons in a borrowed home.
Q 12The Panthers' arena was first named for which company, owned at the time by the team's founder?
National Car Rental
National Car Rental belonged to the team's founder, so one of his own companies paid to put its name on his team's new home. Office Depot took over the naming rights in 2002.
Q 13Which Russian star did the Panthers acquire from Vancouver during the 1998-99 season?
Pavel Bure
Q 21The Panthers' 96-point 2017-18 season tied an NHL mark for what?
Most points while missing the playoffs
Most points while missing the playoffs: a 25-8-2 finish still left Florida one point short, matching the 96 that had not been enough for another club three years earlier.
Q 22Which two-time Vezina Trophy winner signed a seven-year, $70 million contract with Florida in 2019?
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sergei Bobrovsky's deal paid him $10 million a season, and it ended with his name on the Stanley Cup twice, in 2024 and 2025.
Q 23Which player became the first to have his number retired by the Panthers, in March 2020?
Roberto Luongo
Pavel Bure had refused to play for Vancouver that season, sitting out until the Canucks finally traded him to Florida in January 1999.
Q 14The Panthers traded away the 2002 first overall pick, which Columbus used on whom?
Rick Nash
Rick Nash went first to Columbus, which gave Florida the third pick and the right to swap first-round choices in 2003. Florida never used it: a year later it held the top pick again anyway.
Q 15The Panthers' 2006 trade of their star goaltender to Vancouver brought back which forward?
Todd Bertuzzi
Todd Bertuzzi played only seven games for Florida before back surgery, and was traded on to Detroit before the season ended. The goalie spent the next eight seasons starring in Vancouver.
Q 16Which interim coach led the 2021-22 Panthers to 122 points but was replaced that summer?
Andrew Brunette
Andrew Brunette took over an unbeaten team seven games in. After a second-round sweep the club hired someone else, and he chose to leave rather than stay on in another role.
Q 17Which general manager, hired by the Panthers in 2010, drafted future captain Aleksander Barkov?
Dale Tallon
Dale Tallon drafted two cornerstones of the later champions, but his own teams never won a playoff round, and he and the club parted in 2020.
Q 18In 2012 the Panthers lost Game 7 at home in double overtime to which team?
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils, the lower seed, had trailed the series 3-2 and went on to reach the Final. Rookie Adam Henrique scored twice in Game 7, the winner coming 3:47 into the second overtime.
Q 19With the first overall pick in 2014 the Panthers selected which defenceman?
Aaron Ekblad
Aaron Ekblad had been let into major junior hockey a year early, the first defenceman ever granted 'exceptional player' status. He went straight from the draft into Florida's lineup at 18.
Q 20Which two forwards did the Panthers lose at the 2017 expansion draft?
Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith
Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith both left: the new club picked Marchessault and took Smith off Florida's hands for a fourth-round pick, a deal made to clear salary.
Roberto Luongo's No. 1 went up in March 2020. Florida had traded him away in 2006, then brought him back eight years later to finish his career where he had first become a star.
Q 24Which Panthers coach resigned in October 2021, despite a 7-0-0 start, over a scandal at his former club?
Joel Quenneville
Joel Quenneville had coached that club in 2010, when a player's abuse complaint was mishandled. He stepped down within hours of meeting the NHL commissioner, leaving an unbeaten team to an assistant.
Q 25Which trophy did the Panthers first win in 2021-22?
Presidents' Trophy
The Presidents' Trophy rewarded a 122-point season, the best in the league. The favourites were then swept in the second round, scoring only three goals in four games.
Q 26The Panthers' first series win in 26 years came in 2022 over which team?
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals led the series 2-1 and were three goals up in Game 5. Florida came back to win that game, then finished the job in overtime in Game 6.
Q 27Which 100-point forward did the Panthers send to Calgary in their blockbuster trade of July 2022?
Jonathan Huberdeau
Jonathan Huberdeau had just set a club record with 115 points. In his first season in Calgary he managed only 55, less than half as many.
Q 28Which veteran coach did the Panthers hire in June 2022, six months after he resigned from the Winnipeg Jets?
Paul Maurice
Paul Maurice had walked away from Winnipeg in mid-season after nearly eight years. In Florida he reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of his first three seasons and won it twice.
Q 29In the 2023 first round the Panthers upset which 135-point team after trailing 3-1?
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins had just set NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points. Florida, the last team into the playoffs, won three straight elimination games, the last of them in overtime.
Q 30The longest game in Panthers history, a quadruple-overtime win in 2023, came against which team?
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes lost 3-2 on a goal with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime of the conference final opener. Florida took the next three games too, its first playoff sweep.