NHL: Florida Panthers Rebuild Continues

The Florida Panthers rebuild is steaming full speed ahead.  GM Dale Tallon and assistant GM Mike Santos have their "blueprint" and are completely reshaping the team. 

The draft last year was a big step forward, and this year's draft also seems to have been a success.  The prospect pool has some great talent in Gudbranson, Markstrom, Howden, Bjugstad, Petrovic and now Huberdeau and Grimaldi. 

If these prospects can live up to the hype or even come close to it then Tallon and co have done a great job scouting.

With Markstrom penciled in as the future franchise goaltender, the Panthers are set in net for years once he breaks into the league, most likely in one to three years.

The defence looks great with Kulikov and Ellerby already on the team and Gudbranson and Petrovic and Colby Robak emerging. 

It would have been great for the Panthers to take Adam Larsson in the draft, but with the other moves Tallon has made this summer on the defence and the lack of offence on the team, he just wasn't needed as much as Huberdeau.

Huberdeau looks like a great player.  I would loved Landeskog to have fallen to us, but all the top propsects look great, so it's still a good pick.  He is coming off an amazing year and with another year in juniors to bulk up he could be a very good building block for the Panthers.

Rocco Grimaldi seems to be a great pick as he was tipped to be a first-round pick.  Hopefully he can turn into this draft's Markstrom and look to be a steal.  With Howden etc already in the system, the Panthers look to have a good crop of offensive players now coming through.

Tallon's next phase was free agency.  It was a record day for the Panthers as they have been completely reshaped and look utterly different now. 

Tomas Vokoun decided he wanted to test free agency, so Tallon nabbed Jose Theodore early on.  He was great for the Capitals a couple years ago and does have a good CV.  It was a very affordable contract at $1.5 million a year for two years. 

Hopefully, he will be a solid goalie until Markstrom can step up.

I was disappointed Vokoun decided to leave.  He said he'd like to return, but given he's signed with the Caps for just $1.5 million, it seems that playoff hockey was what he wanted so fair play to him.  He was great for us and deserves some success in his career.

Ed Jovanovski was then given a four-year deal to return to the team that took him first overall in 1994.  I really like this signing as along with new arrival Brian Campbell, acquired at the draft for underachiever Rostislav Olesz, the young d-men now have some great role models and mentors.  Jovo will be a leader for the team hopefully still produce points. 

Campbell, although overpaid, is a good defenceman and will also help this young team mature.

The Panthers desperately needed forwards and that's what Tallon and co delivered next.  Scottie Upshall, Tomas Fleischmann, Sean Bergenheim, Kris Versteeg, Matt Bradley and Marcel Goc. 

All these players were overpaid, but most players signed early on are.  That's the economics of the modern NHL.  They all have relatively short deals though, so hopefully we won't have major headaches down the road like some teams have done.

The trade for Versteeg was a particular favourite of mine as we only gave up a couple of draft picks.  He was really criticised last year but still put up good numbers. 

I can see that playing for Tallon will help his game and being with Campbell and Tomas Kopecky, acquired and signed just before free agency, will also help. 

To have those guys from the Blackhawks cup winning team can only be a good thing as it will bring experience and other intangibles to the locker room. 

These guys aren't stars, but they are a step up on previous players and some have a great upside.  Tomas Fleischmann stands out and hopefully if he can stay healthy, which the doctors have said he can, then he could be a offensive power for the team. 

Upshall and Versteeg will put up points with increased roles on this team and fingers crossed Bergenheim can finally put up regular points and play like he did in the playoffs for Tampa.  Bradley and Goc are good role players to have and will fill the bottom lines out well.

The Panthers are getting bashed for overpaying but most teams do now.  What a lot of people are forgetting is that we are just under the salary cap floor now with all this investment. 

Many holes have been plugged but with probably another $10 million available we can strengthen even more.  Tallon and Santos have both said more players will be joining.  They have also both said the young prospects will be given every chance to earn a spot. 

Gudbranson seems to ready to step up and possibly Howden too.

Last but certainly not least is the signing of Kevin Dineen as head coach.  This is a great signing.  He has been linked with numerous jobs around the league for a few years now and all the analysis I've read, it seems that it's a home run of a signing. 

Players are excited to play for him and he's had success as a minor league coach and player.  Hopefully he can bring that to the Panthers and mold a hard working, young and exciting team. 

This isn't a team that will win the Cup, but it is a greatly improved team and should contend for a playoff berth within a few years.  If the youngsters can fulfill their potential then I don't see any reason why the team can't achieve success. 

The prospects are very well thought of, and now, hopefully, with the signings made by Tallon the main team can be looked at with respect.