News Article: In A Blink

[Erick*]

http://panthers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=710222&navid=DL|FLA|home

Hopefully we are next.

Click to read more...

 

[Aksu]

http://panthers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=710222&navid=DL|FLA|home

Hopefully we are next.

Wow, I didn't remember Tampa being that bad last year.

 

[coopdaloop123]

While I do think the Panthers will make a jump next season, I don't think it'll be as big as COL/TB made simply because both of those teams had established stars going in. While the Panthers do have a comparable, if not better, crop of young talent than both of those teams (Tampa is pretty damn good), those teams still had guys like Stamkos, St. Louis (for most of the year), Duchene, O'Reilly, Statsny, Johnson etc.

I'd set the bar at an 8th seed for the Panthers next season and if they can do that it'll be an amazing success / turnaround.

 

[harv33173]

While I do think the Panthers will make a jump next season, I don't think it'll be as big as COL/TB made simply because both of those teams had established stars going in. While the Panthers do have a comparable, if not better, crop of young talent than both of those teams (Tampa is pretty damn good), those teams still had guys like Stamkos, St. Louis (for most of the year), Duchene, O'Reilly, Statsny, Johnson etc.

I'd set the bar at an 8th seed for the Panthers next season and if they can do that it'll be an amazing success / turnaround.

i fully agree, although you didn't mention luongo!

 

[coopdaloop123]

i fully agree, although you didn't mention luongo!

haha he'll steal a lot of games that'll help get the Cats to the 8th seed, but even the best goalie can't carry a team to elite status by himself!

 

[Erick*]

While I do think the Panthers will make a jump next season, I don't think it'll be as big as COL/TB made simply because both of those teams had established stars going in. While the Panthers do have a comparable, if not better, crop of young talent than both of those teams (Tampa is pretty damn good), those teams still had guys like Stamkos, St. Louis (for most of the year), Duchene, O'Reilly, Statsny, Johnson etc.

I'd set the bar at an 8th seed for the Panthers next season and if they can do that it'll be an amazing success / turnaround.

I think it's very comparable to Colorado's situation if you look at it. Of course, Colorado pretty much had a lot of things go right for them this year which is tough. However, before the year, Colorado was just a team with potential. The players you mentioned weren't proven stars with the exception of Stastny who hadn't been the same player the previous three years if you look at the numbers.

I agree about TB though. They just needed the right goaltender there. Stamkos and St. Louis were always clearly elite and had been consistently over the years so they had a much better starting point.

 

[coopdaloop123]

I think it's very comparable to Colorado's situation if you look at it. Of course, Colorado pretty much had a lot of things go right for them this year which is tough. However, before the year, Colorado was just a team with potential. The players you mentioned weren't proven stars with the exception of Stastny who hadn't been the same player the previous three years if you look at the numbers.

I agree about TB though. They just needed the right goaltender there. Stamkos and St. Louis were always clearly elite and had been consistently over the years so they had a much better starting point.

Last season O'Reilly had 20 pts in 29 games, Duchene had 43 in 47 and Parenteau had 43 in 48 ... plus I forgot Landeksog is a hell of a talent

 

[Erick*]

Last season O'Reilly had 20 pts in 29 games, Duchene had 43 in 47 and Parenteau had 43 in 48 ... plus I forgot Landeksog is a hell of a talent

O'Reilly is having a career year so far. He hadn't come close to this type of production in previous years.
Duchene had 43 in 47 last year. The year before, he had 28 in 58. My point is that we have young players with talent just like these guys; it's a matter of surrounding them with the right guys and things going right.
Landeskog had a sophmore slump, himself, last year (17 in 36) after a great rookie year. We could (hopefully) be talking about Huberdeau the same way next year.

Even Erik Johnson who you mentioned before for the d-core was reaching "bust" status before the year. He had a lot to prove before this year and he did. Just last year, he had 4 points in 31 games. Kulikov and Gudbranson will have to prove that they can take their game(s) to the next level for us to improve. Can at least one of them do it? Those are questions we need answered just like Colorado needed them answered before this year.

Paranteau was brought in as a free agent and is not really a big reason why they are where they are this year. He has 33 points in 53 games this year. We have plenty of guys who can produce at such a rate and we'll probably sign a free agent or two who can do that too.

I feel like both teams were/are built with a core group of young forwards with skill (we've been scoring more recently with the added skill to the lineup), a suspect defense and good goaltending that was brought in via trade in the case of both teams. Varlamov is a big reason for Colorado's improvement. Hopefully Luongo will provide that same type of goaltending and stability which would give our young guys more confidence to be creative offensively.

No situation is exactly the same obviously, but there are similarities.