As October creeps closer, another NHL season creeps with it.
In the ninth of a series of team-by-team summer reviews and season previews, here's a glimpse at the ...
Florida Panthers
A year removed from a first-place finish in the Atlantic Division, the Panthers fell rather drastically in 2016-17, ending the season with a bottom-10 offensive ranking and a defensive standing not much better. Under .500 both at home and on the road, they had by far the worst goal differential (minus-27) of any team with at least 80 points in the standings, and their 35-36-11 finish brought about sweeping changes within a division that not long ago seemed well within Florida's reach.
Gone are both coach Gerard Gallant, who is now heading the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, and general manager/interim Gallant fill-in Tom Rowe. Former Panthers GM Dale Tallon has resumed leadership in the front office after giving way to Rowe in 2016, whereas 46-year-old Bob Boughner, a former Ontario Hockey League head honcho and San Jose Sharks assistant, will now guide from Florida's bench. There are about as many question marks as there were significant changes this offseason, and that doesn't even fully touch on a reshaped Panthers roster.
The moves
Key additions: F Evgeny Dadonov (SKA Saint Petersburg), F Radim Vrbata (Coyotes)
Key losses: F Jonathan Marchessault (Golden Knights), F Reilly Smith (Golden Knights), F Jussi Jokinen (Oilers), F Jaromir Jagr
A lot of the internal talk about Boughner taking over as coach centered on Florida's desire to pair its new leader with a young core, but the biggest revelation from the offseason was how much potential long-term talent walked out the door with Smith and Marchessault heading for Vegas. The former landed the Panthers a fourth-round draft pick, but exposing Marchessault, a 26-year-old 30-goal scorer on the cheap, in June's expansion draft was a downright puzzling move.
Sure, Dadonov is a high-reward prospect now that he's back from the Kontinental Hockey League, and his offensive touch should give Boughner something to work with. Vrbata, meanwhile, fills in quite nicely as an old but not quite-as-old rotational replacement of Jagr. But coupling the dual departures of Smith and Marchessault with a buyout of Jokinen sure makes Florida's summer haul a little less appealing.
The verdict
There isn't a whole lot to sugarcoat here. Whereas other bottom-of-the-league teams like the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils boast promising bits of long-term talent, the Panthers are coming off a season where grizzled vets -- on the ice and in the front office alike -- failed to lift this team, and they didn't do enough this summer to suggest they're suddenly going to shift gears once the games begin this fall.
The bottom line: Boughner might very well build something with his refreshing voice and his closeness to players, but expecting an instant turnaround is far fetched. "The Boogieman" is probably one of the better candidates the team could've hired when it comes to up-and-coming coaches, especially ones with title-winning experience in the minor leagues, but even if Dadonov flashes immediately in his return to the NHL, the Panthers figure to be short on serious offensive depth. It's not like axing Smith and Jokinen, pretending not to see Marchessault flee for Vegas, backing out of an apparent promise to consider re-signing Jagr and then barely addressing any of those vacancies is going to help lift Florida's goal production, let alone alleviate pressure on the blue line.
Check back in a year's time.
