Florida Panthers Need New Talent to Gain Respectability

Stephen Weiss has been on a bit of a streak.

His three assists Tuesday night helped the Panthers to their OT victory over the Washington Capitals, Southeast Division rivals. He's scoring at just over a point a game clip for the last 17 games. The streak has him leading the Panthers in points (29) and tied with David Booth for the team lead with 13 goals.

The Panthers have shown tangible improvement this year. Playing in what is a tougher and tougher Southeast Division, they still are hanging in at .500. The Panthers finished last year with a 32-37-13 record and 77 points, the third-worst record in the league.

Despite better opposition in their own division, the Panthers sit with 42 points in 42 games on track to earn 82 points this year. They currently have the sixth-worst record in the league. It's a tiny bump, true, but I believe a lot of their improvement is masked by the fact that Atlanta and Tampa Bay have both taken huge steps forward.

The NHL's unbalanced schedule insures that a team's success in the regular season is dependent on those 32 games they play in their own division. Thirty-nine percent of your schedule is against your division rivals, a fact that any of the Northwest Division teams need to be grateful for and that the Central division teams have to constantly curse.  

So far this season the Southeast has been the third-toughest division in hockey by a long shot.

That doesn't help a struggling developing team like the Panthers.

The other tangible improvements have been mostly defensive. Florida still has its shots against count down after years of leading the league to a still-bad 32.4 shots per game and 23rd overall. Tomas Vokoun helps them build on this, though.

Florida only gives up 2.62 goals per game, 11th-best in the league. They're the best defensive team in the Southeast division. Their penalty kill is a stellar fifth-best in the league, an improvement over last year's 23rd-best kill by a full 5.5 percent.       

The offense has been mediocre. They score the 16th-most goals per game in the league at a rate of 2.71 per game. The team still lacks that offensive superstar that will make his teammates better and the depth chart just that much more skilled.   

Still improved or not, this is translating into a team that's not quite good enough. Five hundred in the overtime/shoot-out NHL is a bad record. The average winning percentage for a team in the NHL last year was .561. Five-hundred hockey isn't even close to being average.

Dale Tallon has brought about most of this improvement in Florida with a series of small and one large player moves. He's currently trying to negotiate a contract extension with linchpin goalie Vokoun.

Vokoun is one of the best goalies in the league and has the best cumulative save percentage in the league since the lock-out. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/544116-ryan-miller-the-nine-other-best-save-percentage-nhl-goalies-since-the-lockout.

He's 34, and so probably due to decline in the next few years. Still, he's crucial for Florida to be as good as they are now. If the Panthers lose him now, they could spend years searching for another goalie even half as good.

Vokoun is at the point in his career where he wants ones more pay and a chance to win a cup. To sign him, Tallon will have to pay him and convince him that Florida is not more than two or three years away from being a top-quality NHL playoff team.

That might take some convincing.  

The Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers or even the Pittsburgh Penguins would all likely be hugely improved with a Tomas Vokoun in the lineup and offer a better chance at winning a Stanley Cup. All those teams, however, would run in to huge cap problems trying to sign Vokoun.

The Panther prospect pool is still deep, though they do seem to lack that superstar that would give them instant respectability. The World Junior Tournament in Buffalo this Christmas featured five under-20 Florida Panther prospects.

They were all good—all could potentially be NHL players—but none of them had that great tournament you'd like to see from your prospects.

Eric Gudbranson was the big shut-down defenseman for the silver medal-winning Canadian team. He showed a good point shot, scoring three goals and five points in seven games for Canada.

The big man had trouble, though, dealing with the fast Russian, Swedish and American forwards in the tournament. He may be an old-model defenseman for a new NHL.        

Joonas Donski for the Finns is projected as a skilled playmaker and responsible two-way forward. His three goals and six points in six games put him third in scoring on a good Finnish team. He's still only 18 and looks more like a quality prospect every time I see him.

Quinton Howden had a good tournament for Team Canada. He was tough and tenacious. He managed five points and a couple of key goals.

Nick Bjugstad is another 18-year-old who at times looked lost on the Bronze medal winning US team. The big kid (6'5") may just have to grow into his size. A big man with soft hands, he had two goals and two assists for what proved to be an offensively challenged Team USA.

Drew Shore was the last Panther prospect. He had two goals in six games for team USA. He looked like he had some NHL skills as well at the tournament and was often dangerous.

Throw in goalie Jacob Markstrom, defensemen Keaton Ellerby, Colby Robak, Jason Garrison and forwards Michael Repik, John McFarland and Evgeni Dadonov, and Tallon shouldn't have trouble convincing Vokoun that there is still plenty of NHL-quality talent on the horizon.

The trick will be convincing him that all this depth adds up to a better team.

Florida needs to draft, develop, trade for or sign that one ineffable talent that allows them to step out of the muck they have been stuck in for the last decade. Right now, they look to me like a team that is just that close.

If they can keep Vokoun on board and find that talent, I can see Florida in the playoffs next year and contending for a cup, not a playoff spot, for at least five years after that.

If Florida can grow from within this year and build on what they've already done, they could be a playoff team this season. They are 11th in the East right now—nine points behind Atlanta for that fifth playoff spot.

However, they have four games in hand on Atlanta. They have a game in hand on Buffalo and Carolina, two on Montreal and three on the Rangers and Washington.

The time has come, though. They need to win all those games now. If the Florida Panthers can go on a winning streak, they could be fighting for a playoff spot in another couple of weeks. If they continue to win, they'll finish the season likely 11th or 12th in the East.

The time for the Florida Panthers is now, or their season will be over.