NHL Preview: Florida Panthers

Goodbye, kitty – the Panthers are going nowhere this year. Charlie Boccanegra reports.

The Florida Panthers have not made the playoffs in the last decade and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. Last year they started another rebuilding process with new GM Dale Tallon, who was responsible for assembling most of the 2010 Chicago Blackhawk Cup winning team, but he’s got many miles to go before the Panthers are contenders.

The rebuilding can’t be expected to show results for at least two or three years. Florida has one of the worst rosters in the NHL, dooming it to remain a bottom dweller in the NHL

So even with the extremely low point total set at 73.5 points for the season I am still inclined to bet UNDER. Which also means I will be fading this team routinely. Obviously the opposition will be laying a big price against them so look to lay the -1.5 to reduce the NHL betting juice. The Panthers will get blown out a lot.

Dale Tallon’s moves will make the team worse before it’s better. Anytime you bring in ten new players in offseason the chemistry will not be there and could take some time to develop. Plus, it’s not like Tallon went out and signed any marquee free agents. Most of them are decent role players but not guys around whom you can build a franchise.

The struggles will begin in net with Jose Theodore, who’s been atrocious and on the decline since his 2004 Vezina Trophy. He should not even be a starting goalie in the NHL anymore. Backup goalie Markstrom is the future in net and will serve as the back up, but at the age of 21 with no NHL experience I can’t expect him to fare much better.

Often time’s teams with poor goaltending can be bailed out by a good defense. Unfortunately the Panthers do not have the personnel to make that happen which will result in them allowing a ton of goals. Newly signed veterans Brian Campbell and Ed Jovanovski are over the hill and past their prime. Neither are great overall defenseman and very prone to turnovers in their own end being more concerned about their offensive production.

Following them is a trio of top 10 NHL picks who are all 22 years and younger. Kulikov, Ellerby and Gudbranson have all the potential in the world but are way to young and fresh to have a positive impact in the NHL right now.

Offensively they do not have an elite scorer and someone that can be relied upon to score big goals in clutch spots. They have five pretty good forwards in Weiss, Booth and the newly acquired trio of Fleishmann, Versteeg and Upshall. But none of them would be considered above average first line players. Due to lack of depth they will be forced into that role which will end up hurting them.