The Panthers were so close to the playoffs that they actually had the same amount of points as eighth place Montreal, but for some reason they still missed the playoffs. Oh yeah, because of the tie-break rule. The Panthers played some scrappy hockey last season, and Head Coach Pete D’Borr got plenty out of a Panther team that some may say overachieved. If the Panthers want the same results as last season and even better, they will need their two best players Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton to play like superstars. Both are on the cusp of it, but this has to be their breakout season where they play like true leaders and lead by example, score.
Last season both Horton and Weiss had okay seasons, nothing spectacular. Good thing for the Panthers their team defense was good. Horton must improve on his 22 goals and 45 point season he had last year. When he was drafted he was touted as a hardnosed goal scorer, but so far he has been anything but that. If the Panthers want to succeed they must get at least thirty goals out of Horton and a full season of games played. As for Weiss he led the team in scoring with 14 goals and 47 assists, and was +19 player. 61 points isn’t bad, but Weiss can do so much more, and maybe the youthful talent around him will step up their game.
Youngsters such as David Booth and Gregory Campbell will need solid years. In Booths’ case he will most certainly need to match last season’s 31 goals and 60 points. Playing alongside Weiss, a true playmaker, Booth can attain both those marks. If Campbell has a breakout season, something better than his 13 goals in 2008, then the Panthers will have good scoring lines. That’s something hard to imagine coming from the Panthers, a team where no one seems to give a shit about hockey on the sunny shores of Florida.
It seems the Panthers are committed in building a playoff team, and with the four players mentioned above the Panthers are on the right track. Sprinkled in to make the team mesh and bond are some solid veterans.
Veterans such as Cory Stillman and Steven Reinprecht are excellent players on this club, and Stillman was a calming force on last season’s team when they could’ve crashed and burn. Stillman can still score here and there, and chipped in with a not so bad 17 goals and 32 assists. Reinprecht may not have a solid scoring touch like used to in his days with Colorado, but he can do the little things like kill penalties and block shots.
The Panthers should have a good offense but Weiss, Horton, Booth and Campbell all need to be better than last season if they want to see some post-season action.
Defensively the Panthers took a hard hit when they traded Jay Bouwmeester, the team’s best defensemen. In return they did pick up Jordan Leopold, he may not be Bouwmeester, but he knows how to play some good defense, and can work the power play pretty nicely. Even with or without Bouwmeester, the Panthers have a good defense, with some hard workers. Playing in front of empty seats may get their energy down, and can cost them some games. Anyways, the rest of the defense looks like this: Bryan McCabe, Bryan Allen, Keith Ballard, Ville Koistinen, and Dennis Seidenberg.
McCabe is a good defender but he looks lost at some times during a game, and his scoring touch has been lost. Again, playing in Florida where hockey is an afterthought, he can either get his game back on track or flounder even more, it is up to him without all that media attention.
Allen and Ballard are two solid defensemen that can kill penalties, deliver the big hit, and score a few points. Injuries wiped out Allen’s season, but in the two seasons before that, Allen was a good plus player, and was always good for twenty points. As for Ballard, last season was probably the best year of his career both defensively at +14 and offensively with 34 points.
Koistinen and Seidenberg are good players, but they both don’t have that consistency, and that will hurt Florida as they will only have two good defensive pairs, compared to the three they might have had.
Goaltending was an issue at times, but the Panthers have two solid starters now. Tomas Vokoun a proven veteran starter who played in the playoffs and Scott Clemmensen a very amiable back-up and another proven starter. Vokoun had very respectable numbers with 26 wins and a 2.49 GAA. He needs to win at least thirty or more games for the Panthers to know that their true number one is their number one, and they won’t have to worry about goaltending. If not Clemmensen is more than capable of taking over and is just looking for that one season to finally be noticed.
OVERALL--> THE PANTHERS HAVE A GOOD ENOUGH TEAM TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, IF THEIR OFFENSE CLICKS AND THEIR DEFENSE PLAYS WITH SOME CONSISTENCY.
POSITIVE--> GOOD FOURSOME ON OFFENSE WITH WEISS, HORTON, BOOTH AND CAMPBELL, BUT CAN THEY ELEVATE THEIR GAMES.
NEGATIVE--> DEFENSE IS A BIT SUSPECT STILL AND SO IS THE OFFENSE.
X-FACTOR--> IT HAS TO BE THE WHOLE DEFENSIVE UNIT, BECAUSE IF THE PANTHERS STRUGGLE TO SCORE, THEY’LL AT LEAST HAVE A GOOD DEFENSE THAT CAN HOLD A FEW GAMES.
SLEEPER PICK--> GOALTENDER SCOTT CLEMMENSEN, IF GIVEN THE CHANCE TO BE THE NUMBER ONE GOALIE. THIS GUY HAS SHOWN HE CAN PLAY AND IS CAPABLE OF WINNING THRITY GAMES, IF HE JUST GETS THAT ONE OPPORTUNITY.
PREDICTION--> THE FLORIDA PANTHERS SHOULD MATCH LAST SEASONS 93 POINTS TO BATTLE IT OUT FOR A PLAYOFF SPOT, IF NOT THEY WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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