Panthers kittens become cats primer

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK The year before they came back from the dead fighting their way back from double digit points out of a playoff spot to barely missing the playoffs, hopes were extremely high that with the addition of Mike Hoffman for free they would compete and make the postseason.

 

FINAL RECORD 36-32-14 86 points 5th place in division, 11 points out of a playoff spot.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE SEASON Well really there wasn't one. They won a few and lost a few all year, never quite falling out of contention until late in the season, never quite making that push. I suppose if I had to say a high point it was the hiring of Joel Quenneville to coach the team at seasons end.

 

LOW POINT OF THE SEASON The Cats lost 8 of their first ten to throw away the momentum of the previous season and never quite recovered. 

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT First off they hired Quenneville which is huge, one of the games all time great coaches and GM Tallon go way back and know a thing or two about winning cups. Hoffman was better than hoped for with 36 goals, Barkov with 96 points and the games greatest defensive forward has turned into the new Datsyuk. Huberdeau was amazing, Dadonov was solid, the quartet of Ekblad, Yandle, Weeger and Matheson are a solid top four on the back end. Frank Vatrano came from absolute nowhere to add 24 goals. Borgstrom was worked in gradual and looks like a sure fire top six forward for years to come.

 

  WHAT WENT WRONG Losing Trocheck for several months with a ugly leg injury was devastating, the team was really a two line team and when he went down it took a lot of wind out of their sails. Really the biggest disappointment last year was the simply dreadful goaltending, both Luongo and Reimer had goals against over 3 per game in spite of a young solid defense in front of them, Luongo cannot play anymore and Reimer never could. With average goaltending this team would have coasted into the playoffs. 

 

FREE AGENTS Veteran forwards McGinn, Sheahan, MacKenzie and Brouwer all are free agents and all will be gone. The next year Hoffman and Dadonov are UFA's and will command big deals.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS Both Bobrovsky and Panarin are rumored to be Florida bound can the Cats add one or both? If they have to pick which one which will it be? Can they resign their own pending free agents for next year in Hoffman and Dadonov? Most important, if they don not sign Bobrovsky, what can they do about their goaltending mess with both Reimer and Luongo still with multiple seasons remaining on their deals?

[CreaseAndAssist]

I thought it was kind of crappy Boughner got let go, but I guess they felt Quenneville was their guy.  Its too bad they could not have kept him, because I think he was doing a lot of things right.  

 

If the Panthers can snag Panarin and Bobrovsky as expected this team will be pretty damn good.  Their defense is where they need improvement because with Panarin, Barkov, Hoffman, Dadonov, they have a potent attack.