Panthers offseason primer

[yave1964]

FINAL RECORD 44-30-8 96 point one point out of a playoff spot

 

The Cats started slow and had a slew of injuries before mounting a serious comeback furiously fighting there way back into the playoff race and coming up one point short.  A lot went right, Barkov continues to establish himself as one of the top two way centers in the game and if there is a better true second line center who does everything well at both ends of the ice in all situations in the game than Vinnie Trocheck I don't know who it is. Dadonov came back from the KHL and was a serious find with 65 points, Huberdeau had 69 points including 27 goals, Yandle, Bjugstad and Ekblad who had all had poor seasons the year before bounced back nicely. Luongo could not stay healthy but when on the ice was solid.

  Not everything worked, Radim Vrbata came over and was awful, done, he retired the day the season ended. For most of the year they were a two line team with very little if anything beyond the top six. Trocheck and Barkov had to have been exhausted by years end as they were both in the top six for ice time among all forwards, in the last 41 games of the season they finished first and second as the team mounted its furious comeback that fell just short. Reimer was okay but squandered multiple two goal leads and one more point would have gotten them in the playoffs. Lack of depth really killed the team.

 

FREE AGENTS

No team in hockey has done a better job of locking up there core, Huberdeau, Ekblad, Yandle,  Barkov, Bjugstad, Trocheck, Matheson, Luongo and Dadonov are all locked up long termat very reasonable deals (except Yandle at 6.3 million which is a bit of an overpay). They have no free agents worth mentioning unless you happen to be related to Connor Brickley.

 

TOP PROSPECTS: 

Henrik Borgstrom is a real deal center prospect who will likely make the team and be handed the 3C opening if he proves he can handle it. Owen Tippett should be in the mix on the third line as well but might be a year away. Both are extremely skilled and highly thought of if a bit green. Ian Mccoshen has been highly thought of in the organization and may claim a bottom pair stay at home defense job if they decide they cannot afford to keep Petrovic who is a RFA. For some reason they are high on puck movinglate bloomer Henrik Haapala for the blue line but he ways like 155-160 pounds and no way he makes it. Some good quality at the top followed by some question marks.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTIONS:

 

WHERE DO THEY FIND SECONDARY SCORING? The hope is that Borgstrom becomes a quality 3C and that Sceviour and Malgin become 15-20 goal guys. They might but it is probably a bit much to ask.

 

WHY DID THEY GIVE REILLY SMITH TO THE KNIGHTS TO CONVINCE THE KNIGHTS TO DRAFT MARCHESSAULT?? I wondered that at the time, it made no snese then and less now. With those two in the mix the Cats are a lock for the playoffs and might have even made a run. No idea what the hell they were thinking.

 

WILL THEY BUILD ON LAST SEASON? I doubt it, literally every key player save Lu had either a career year or a bounce back season from a poor year the year before. Under the theory that what goes up must come down I think it is inevitable that half the players slip back at least some this year. They have very little cp space so the odds are they will be fighting their secondary scoring woes again this year and it will cost them. I see them as 85-90 points which misses the playoffs.

 

IS BARKOV THE BEST TWO WAY FORWARD IN THE GAME TODAY? With apologies to Kopitar and Bergeron who are still right there with anyone, for my money it is either Couturier or Barkov and I give the slight edge to Sasha. It is a shame he plays in south Florida or the world would know how skilled he really is.

 

[jammer2]

On 6/6/2018 at 6:58 AM, yave1964 said:

WHY DID THEY GIVE REILLY SMITH TO THE KNIGHTS TO CONVINCE THE KNIGHTS TO DRAFT MARCHESSAULT?? I wondered that at the time, it made no snese then and less now. With those two in the mix the Cats are a lock for the playoffs and might have even made a run. No idea what the hell they were thinking.

 

 

 Very entertaining write up Yave. The Smith/Marchessault clustermess is outrageous. Tallon has been a respectable GM for quite a while, but this trade....it is SO very horrid, it justifies being fired in my mind. The trade also leads me to question the pro scouts that the Panthers employ. If you think Marcessy is worthy of being left exposed, and are willing to give up Riley friggin Smith to get it done...well, you should find a new line of work, cause this one....it's not working for ya.....lol. No question in my mind, the Panthers make a nice long run with those two in FLA. That moved alone sucked all their offensive depth out the backdoor.