Season Review: Florida Panthers

Well, now that people are talking playoffs, I will be reviewing the seasons of teams as they're either eliminated from the playoffs or eliminated from playoff contention before the end of the season. Obviously, the last team reviewed will be the one that wins the Cup.

Now the sixth team to be eliminated from playoff contention: The Florida Panthers.

Season expectations: The team barely missed the playoffs last season but lost their venerable defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (who, in fairness, is having a rotten season in his own right) after the season was over. Still though, the fans expected the Panthers to be playoff contenders while all of their divisional rivals (save the Washington Capitals) were struggling, even if the hockey community didn't agree.

My prediction: I figured they would be last in the division and 14th overall in the Eastern Conference.

The truth: They were the third team to be eliminated from playoff contention yesterday following a 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers.

What went wrong?: You mean besides David Booth getting career-threatening concussions due to hits to the head... twice?

While the goaltending on the team was pretty epic, there were just spots throughout the roster that just left you wanting more. Sure Steven Reinprecht was traded over from the Phoenix Coyotes and Bryan Allen was finally back from injury, but there just seemed to be an aura of "good enough" as opposed to "better than it needs to be" when it came to building the team. You can't just "get by", you have to do it right. The team adopted the defense-first approach and while it wasn't bad, there wasn't enough firepower distributed throughout the lineup to make it work.

I think the ownership situation was the biggest problem. If Cliff Viner and Stu Siegel can make the right amount of investment in this team, they'll actually get it together. Get a dynamic forward to complement the steady performers you already have on the team. Get a dynamic defenseman to complement the scoring Bryan McCabe and the hard-hitting Keith Ballard. Do better than it has to be and you'll see the Panthers get all Phoenix Coyotes in the Eastern Conference. Someone just needs to step in and make that investment.

So what's next?: See above. It all depends on what happens with these new owners. If these guys can make the investments to make the team competitive, then Sunrise can re-establish itself as a hockey market. If these guys are going to use the team as a tax write-off though... let the relocation rumors begin.