Florida Panthers: Welcome to the NHL Hall of Shame

Ten points out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference and with only four wins in their last 15 games, the Florida Panthers are once again destined to miss the NHL playoffs.

If they do, they'll be making history.

Having failed to make the postseason since the 1999-2000 NHL season, the Panthers are primed to become the first team in NHL history to miss the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons.

Deplorable, even for one of the NHL's worst franchises.

Once the poster boy of expansion teams thanks to a surprise trip to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals, the Florida Panthers have seen their success rapidly fade away.

The club made the 1996-1997 playoffs, but were ousted four games to one by the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Missing the playoffs in each of the next two seasons, the Panthers—led by 58 goal scorer Pavel Bure and a 37-year-old Mike Vernon—returned to the playoffs, only to be swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.

Enter playoff drought.

Since 2000-2001, the Panthers have had seven coaches, eight general managers and seven top 10 draft choices. Yet, the club never finished higher than third in the South East division and finished with a losing record five times.

Savvy moves to acquire center Olli Jokinen and goaltender Roberto Luongo—both of whom became superstars in Florida—weren't enough for the club to crawl back into playoff contention. Neither player was supported by an adequate level of talent during their time with the Panthers, and both eventually moved on to more competitive teams.

The inability to hang on to quality players has been a theme over the past decade, as the club has parted with players such as Pavel Bure, Viktor Kozlov, Dan Boyle, Sean Burke and Ray Whitney.

In the last two years, the Panthers were forced to trade away former third overall draft choices Jay Bouwmeester and Nathan Horton in fear of losing them to free agency.

The 2008-2009 season was a glimmer of hope for Panthers fans, as the club won 41 games. But a tie breaker with the Montreal Canadiens saw the Habs grab eighth place in the east, while the Panthers finished ninth.

As the Panthers cruise into NHL infamy, there's one more question that must be pondered: when will they return to the playoffs?

With no star talent on the current roster and a vigorous stench of losing stained on the franchise, the future of the Florida Panthers is bleak.