JetBlue 2019-20 Season Rewind: Jonathan Huberdeau

Jonathan Huberdeau picked up right where he left off.
After breaking out with a career-best 92 points (30 goals, 62 assists) last season, the 27-year-old winger paced the Florida Panthers and ranked 10th in the NHL with 78 points (23 goals, 55 assists) during a 2019-20 campaign filled with big games and a few record-breaking moments.

"He's a great player," Panthers winger Mike Hoffman said earlier in the season. "I saw Huby when he was 16 years old in junior, and you could tell right from then that he was going to be a special player. He's worked hard and blossomed into one of the best in the league."
Already the franchise's all-time leader in assists (289), Huberdeau continued to edit the record books this season when he recorded the 420th point of his career in an 8-4 win over Toronto on Jan. 12 to overtake Olli Jokinen and move into first place on the organization's all-time scoring list.
Selected with the third-overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, Huberdeau is currently sitting on 437 points (148 goals, 249 assists) in 536 games -- the seventh-most games played by a Panther.
"I couldn't have asked for better," Huberdeau said after hitting the lofty milestone. "Overall, the team played really good. It was a big win. We knew we needed it tonight. Obviously, on top of that, to be first in franchise history [for points] is cool. I'm going to try and enjoy that tonight."
Huberdeau's hottest stretch of the season came from Dec. 3 through Jan. 18. In that span the Saint-Jerome, Quebec native was counted among the league's best offensive players, ranking first in the NHL in assists (25) and second in points (33) over a blazingly-hot 21 games played.
Thanks in large part to that stretch, Huberdeau earned his first trip to the NHL All-Star Game.
"We'll tune in," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said after the news broke. "For Huby, it's well deserved. He's had a special first part of the year. He's had some tremendous plays. I'm happy for him. He's accomplished a lot this year in a short amount of time to start this season."
For the fifth straight year, the All-Star Game consisted of a 3-on-3 tournament in which the top players from the league's four divisions - Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Metropolitan - competed against each other for a chance to win a portion of the event's whopping $1 million grand prize.
Making waves in his All-Star debut, Huberdeau notched a goal and an assist for the Atlantic Division during a 5-4 loss to the Pacific Division in the championship game of the tournament.
"It was cool," said Huberdeau of All-Star Weekend. "A lot of guys were trying to be creative out there. You can see how much skill they all have. It's nice to be out there with them and see that in real life. I had a really good time this weekend."
Prior to the All-Star Game, Huberdeau competed in the Accuracy Shooting and Save Streak portions of the All-Star Skills Competition. In the end, he finished with the third-best time out of eight skaters in the Accuracy Shooting and scored a highlight-reel goal during the Save Streak.

"It was pretty fun," Huberdeau said. "We had a blast. You don't' have a chance to talk to [other players around the league] usually. It was good to relax, see the other guys and talk a little bit."
Getting a taste of the postseason for the second time in his career, Huberdeau tallied three points (one goal, two assists) in four games during last month's Stanley Cup Qualifiers as the Panthers were unfortunately sent home much earlier than expected by the New York Islanders.
In Game 1 of the best-of-five series, Huberdeau made history (again) when he beat Semyon Varlamov from right in front a mere 22 seconds into the third period -- the fastest goal to start a period in the postseason in franchise history -- to cut Florida's deficit down to a manageable 2-1.
"That's what we wanted," Huberdeau said after the loss. "When we went into the second intermission, we said we've got to score the next one, and that's what we did early in the third. It was good for the team. After that, I think we pushed really hard. We just didn't find the back of the net."
Heading into 2020-21, Huberdeau will look to continue padding his records and producing at better than a point-per-game pace while helping push the Panthers back into the postseason.

COOL STAT

When Huberdeau was on the ice, the offense was usually clicking.
An integral part of the team's sixth-ranked attack, the Panthers scored an average of 3.82 goals per 60 minutes when Huberdeau was on the ice at 5-on-5. That mark was not only the best on the team, but also placed him 11th in the NHL among players that played in at least 30 games.
Overall, Florida ranked fourth in the league with an average of 2.84 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

BEST GAME

Huberdeau played the role of hero not once, but twice in this game.
With the Panthers trailing 3-1 late in the third period in Colorado, he netted both the game-tying and game-winning goals in a 4-3 overtime win over the Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Oct. 30.
"We don't need to panic," Huberdeau said after the comeback.
"Even if we're down two goals, we're focused. We're that kind of team. We're good. We know we can come back every game."
After Aleksander Barkov scored on the power play to cut Florida's deficit down to 3-2 at 12:04, Huberdeau buried a wrist shot through traffic with 1:30 left in regulation to tie the game at 3-3.
Just 29 seconds into the extra frame, Barkov, while falling down to the ice, somehow was able to flip the puck up to Huberdeau, who then deftly deked around a poke check before slipping a shot through Philipp Grubauer's five-hole to complete the comeback and lock in the 4-3 victory.

"Me and Barky were kind of looking for a bounce," Huberdeau said."We haven't been getting a lot of bounces lately. I saw the puck and saw Grubauer had his stick out, so I just went backhand and five-hole. I knew it was open… Tonight just showed the character of our team."
Huberdeau went on to finish the season with three game-winning goals.

GOAL OF THE YEAR

In a rare turn of events, we'll be looking at an assist here instead of a goal.
And once you watch the replay, you'll understand why.
During a 5-2 win over Vancouver on Jan. 9, Huberdeau sent social media into a frenzy when he knocked Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev to the ice with a filthy deke -- a move often referred to as "breaking ankles" -- before setting up Hoffman for a surefire one-timer on the power play.

"We talk about the wow factor," Quenneville said of the move. "That was a wow-wow."
That eye-popping point was one of a team-high 39 primary assists for Huberdeau this season.