"Throughout the year, I realized what it took to play at this level every night," said Tippett, who led Florida's AHL affiliate in goals and points last season. "The guys were great, every one of them, with little pointers here and there that helped me implement little things into my game."
With head coach Joel Quenneville believing he has "all the ingredients that you need and look for in a power forward," Tippett climbed the depth chart throughout the season, polishing his all-around game while learning something new as he worked his way up each rung of the ladder.
Hitting his stride in March, the 22-year-old recorded eight points (four goals, four assists) while making a dent on the scoresheet in eight of 13 games that month, including stringing together a four-game point streak in which he accumulated three goals and one assist from March 9-15.
"Just playing up and down the lineup teaches you different styles of game play," said Tippett, who the Panthers selected with the 10th pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. "You have to adjust your game a little bit here and there. My goal coming into the season was, no matter where I am in the lineup, I want to do whatever I can to help the team win. That was just my goal all year."
As the Panthers started to make their way down the home stretch, Tippett was given his best opportunity of the season when he was elevated to the second line to play alongside Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Bennett, who had just come over from the Flames at the trade deadline.
Catching fire over the final six games of the season (four of them centered by Bennett and two by Alex Wennberg when Bennett was injured), Tippett produced two goals and four assists.
"When he skates, he's one of the best players," Huberdeau said when asked about Tippett. "He's explosive, has a really good shot, obviously. I think it's a good fit on our line with Benny working hard and him. Tippy's a guy that gets on the pucks and puts it in the back of the net."
With that newfound chemistry carrying over into the postseason, the dynamic line of Huberdeau, Bennett and Tippett was arguably the Panthers' most-effective during the team's heated six-game series against the cross-state rival Lightning during the opening round of the playoffs.
Together for five of those six games, the Panthers led the Lightning in shot attempts (58-47), scoring chances (33-23) and, most importantly, goals (5-3) when that trio was deployed at 5-on-5, with Tippett individually racking up four points (one goal, three assists) throughout the series.
"We tried some things over the course of the game, but he looked like he belonged right there with those guys," Quenneville said of Tippett after he pocketed a goal and an assist in Game 1.
With a full season in the NHL now under his belt, Tippett believes the lessons he learned as a rookie will help him reach new heights as he prepares to take another step forward in 2021-22.
"Early on in the year it was getting comfortable, but I think as I got comfortable and more confident my game started to take off," Tippett said. "I know there's another level, so we'll go from there."
