Licking Their Wounds

FLORIDA PANTHERS

2016-17 record: 35-36-11 (81 points)
Missed the playoffs
Captain: Derek MacKenzie

To call the Florida Panthers a hot mess last season would be an understatement. The Panthers stumbled out of the gate, the acquisitions prior to the season weren't panning out, the head coach was left at the airport after a road loss and being fired, and oh yeah, they missed the playoffs by a fairly wide margin. If there was ever a team that needed to hit the reset button, it was the Panthers. Dale Tallon was reinserted as General Manager, and now, with stability returning to the team's front office, the clean up on the ice begins.

Things were brutal for the Panthers, and offensively, it doesn't figure to be much better, as leading goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault was plucked in the Expansion Draft. That leaves Vincent Trocheck and Aleksander Barkov as the only 20-goal scorers from last season that are returning, and Barkov missed considerable time to injuries. Their next two leading goal scorers are also not returning, as Jaromir Jagr was not tendered a new contract and Reilly Smith was traded to Vegas. That's a lot of goals going out the door, and ex-KHLer Evgeny Dadonov and free-agent signing Radim Vrbata were signed to replace some of that production. It would also help if both Barkov and Nick Bjugstad can stay out of the trainer's room and Jared McCann can finally break into the lineup full time. 2017 first round pick Owen Tippett will also have a shot at sticking on the NHL roster. The blue line wasn't much better, as Aaron Ekblad hit a wall in his third season while the rest of the unit was merely okay. There's talent on this unit, and they will need to show more than what they did last season. In goal is where things may very well get dicey. Roberto Luongo never truly recovered from off-season hip surgery, and James Reimer was forced into the lineup more often. The result was a goaltending duo that may see a shift in who sees more starts, as Reimer is more likely to see starts with Luongo needing more rest. The offensive struggles carried over onto the power play while the penalty kill was surprisingly near the top of the league.

Prediction: 6th in the Atlantic Division

The Panthers are in clean up mode, and any hopes of making the playoffs will hinge on whether or not key players can stay healthy. At worst, off-ice distractions should be a thing of the past, but on the ice may be a far different story.