What's up with Florida?

[Ducks in a row]

A team that has a hard time scoring and has a lot of young players is no surprise they have a hard time being in playoff position.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Seems like they're pissing away their chance of a playoff spot (combined with the B's playing really well recently). They still have three games in hand but seems like every time they have a chance to catch up on teams in front of them, they lose.

Florida? Yeah, I think they have overachieved, so I wouldn't call it "pissing away" their playoff chances. I think they are still doing better than expected.

 

[TRG]

Why do you think they should be any where in the standings other than where they are currently? Or performing any better? (Or worse, for that matter.)

I know they're where they should be, actually, they're doing a bit better than I expected. Still, they were in a good spot about a month ago and I was hoping they could get the last playoff spot. But their chances are slowly getting smaller.

 

[Dynheart]

They're exactly where I expected them to be. They have great young talent and a solid veteran goalie, but over 82 games that's not enough to get you into the playoffs. Especially when there are 8 teams that are really strong this year.

Give them some time. Playoffs will happen for them within 1-3 years probably, depending on the kind of moves they make to support their young players who should develop nicely.

Pretty much.

They came out swinging the first half. But the team is still young and inexperienced. So I'm sure the season is wearing down on them.

After a season or two of dealing with that long 82 game season, they'll be tough team to beat. They were a pain to play against the first half of the season.

 

[Moskau]

They haven't gotten a welfare Buffalo victory in a few weeks.

 

[hermes3893*]

They are absolutely terrible. Forget the playoffs, they need to build for next year. They were nearly shutout by a Devils team on a 3in4 with their backup goalie in net. Their defense is very weak atm as well.

 

[Bougieman]

They just aren't good enough. A 35 year old Luongo isn't going to carry them to the playoffs.

I see a lot of people noting that a goalie that old can't get it done. I guess a 35 year old Tim Thomas never got that memo the year he took his Bruins to the finals and a cup.

 

[Bps21*]

Florida is only 8 points back of Washington with 2 games in hand.

Washington has been scuffling a bit lately so they need to pick up the pace a bit to ward off Florida.

Florida has won one of the last 8. They blew the whole Washington losing opportunity pretty bad.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

We're too inconsistent combined with a terrible PP and some pending UFAs that aren't contributing enough.

We've definitely improved, but we're not a playoff team just yet. We'll see what Tallon can do in the offseason/trade deadline to improve this team and give the guys some quality support.

 

[alg363636]

The East is weirdly good this year. Wasn't there a thread yesterday about 8 teams reaching for 100+ points? There isn't room for any bubble teams right now.

All this being said, Florida is doing great. To go from lottery winners to just outside a playoff position is fantastic. They're a great young team with a huge future. This is a good practice season for them, I have little doubt they'll make it in the next two year.

But I won't speak too soon. There is a lot of hockey yet to be played and anything can happen. They are still in it. Right now just about every Eastern team is on a hot streak so you never know, things can change.

 

[darko]

Give them bit of time and they'll be good. After today's game I came away very impressed with Barkov. Ekblad/Hub/Barkov is a really good core. They should get another high pick and add another piece to the puzzle.

 

[Erikfromfin]

They were really hot and close to wild card spot before last homestand... I dont know what happened but the home stretch was catastrophe... maybe they lost focus for a second and then its gone all downhill... Hard to see them make playoffs this season but that team is nuts sooner than later.

 

[Android 16]

Florida was supposed to be competing for McDavid. So yeah, what's up with Florida? Why are they so good?

This is the proper question for this season.

 

[MAHJ71]

Same thing that is up with the Canucks. Played above their level during the first half of the season.

 

[Sam Spade]

A team with 16 ROW's and a -20 goal differential at this point in the season was never going to make the playoffs.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

They should have tanked. Adding McEichel to Ekblad/Barkov/Bjugstad/Gudbranson/Huberdeau + the rest of their young core would have been nasty.

Strongly disagree with this. The team being competitive in games with the young guys in key roles is really important. 2015 is a really deep draft, so they still might be able to add another major talent to a really strong pipeline.

 

[hirawl]

Them and Sabres are going to be so good in 3-5 years. Nothing's up with them right now that should come as a surprise to anyone.

 

[MoreOrr]

I think they've figured that they're not going to make the Playoffs and they've thrown in the towel. Once the let down of that wears off, then they'll probably play better.

 

[AwesomePanthers]

Florida was supposed to be competing for McDavid. So yeah, what's up with Florida? Why are they so good?

Ignorant people would say that.

But I'm gonna guess we'll drop like a rock when you look at our scheduel for february.. Its brutal..

 

[Dabeast]

They are absolutely terrible. Forget the playoffs, they need to build for next year. They were nearly shutout by a Devils team on a 3in4 with their backup goalie in net. Their defense is very weak atm as well.

Yikes

 

[Dragon Priest]

They are about what I expected them to be: a competitive team fighting for a playoff spot but isn't going to qualify thus finishing somewhere between 9-12. Next year I see them being more legit for a playoff spot and hopefully for years to come.

 

[ShootIt]

Got great goaltending in the first half, and very good defensive play which kept them in a lot of one goal games.
So, they either won those games or got a point from an overtime game.

Now their goaltending isn't as great, and their defense has lapses where their effort is subpar and the end result is an "easy" goal for the opponent.

Offense has always been mediocre, sans when they play the Flames lol, and their young guys aren't ready to carry the weight for the entire year.
Bjugstad started off hot, has gone on a cold streak recently. Huberdeau and Barkov started off very slow offensively, have picked it up, but it's not enough.
All of Tallon's FA signings are purely complimentary guys, who need great players to put up points, and well, we don't have any great forwards yet to pair with them.

And we don't have enough of the right players for Gallant's north south system. Some guys would lose a race versus molasses and others play a east-west game.

It seems like the team gets disinterested at some point in the game, and the other team takes advantage. By the time the Panthers wake up in the third it's too late.

 

[Raspewtin]

I was impressed by Florida. I thought they'd be one of the worst teams in the league but they're pretty good in their own end, and Luongo's having a very good season. But they're still very young and have a lot of scoring issues, it's not a surprise they're coming back to Earth.

Refs in todays game happened.

You got a golden chance to get back in the game thanks to a pathetic dive by Trocheck on NYE. Now we're even.

 

[SufferingCatFan]

Give them bit of time and they'll be good. After today's game I came away very impressed with Barkov. Ekblad/Hub/Barkov is a really good core. They should get another high pick and add another piece to the puzzle.

Florida is still in rebuild mode and properly focused on developing its strong, young core. Given the schedule, there is a good chance that the Panthers will be sellers at the TDL using the openings resulting from vet trades to call-up promising prospects like Grimaldi, Trochek and Howden. The Panthers should end up in the 7-10 range in the draft, which should land another promising prospect.

Due to the salary cap squeeze next year, the off-season should be interesting both in terms of trades and free agency for teams, like the Panthers, with a lot of cap space.

All in all, the Panthers are showing a lot of progress but are not yet a true play-off team in the east.

 

[Dread Clawz]

they have an up and coming team, but probably a little too young and some of their vets are "done". They are going to be a really strong team going forward, and a pain to many teams this year

Yeah, our core players are still very young and learning, inconsistency has been showing up big time lately. To be expected. I'm still really excited about what we have here going forward. Not that I want it, I want them to remain competitive to the end, but can you imagine if we keep struggling for a few more weeks and then end up with the #5, 6, 7 pick and draft Marner, Zacha, Barzal, Crouse, Provorov, Werenski etc. and add that to our core? That would be an exciting draft day.