The Florida Panthers are one of the most pleasant surprises to emerge from the early proceedings of the NHL season. They've leapt out of the gate with a predator's posture, carving up the Central Division to the tune of an impressive 12-3-2 record that has them tied with the sitting atop the entire league with the best point percentage in the NHL (.765).

What's made their emergence in the Central particularly interesting is that it has neatly coincided with issues flaring up for division rivals that we expected them to be jostling for position heading into the season. Because of that, things have really opened up once you get past the top two of Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes, and those playoff implications have an additional layer of importance to the points they've already ba