Before I provide some thoughts on the upcoming NHL Draft, I realized something today. While most hockey fans outside of the state of Florida don't believe this, there are A LOT of hockey fans down there. Specifically, Panther fans(although the Lightning faithful surely proved they are large in number).
What the Cats might not have in numbers...yet...they have in passion. In my almost 8 years of writing for Hockeybuzz, I've been very lucky to meet and speak with many of these rabid fans. When I first started writing in this space it was usually crickets in the comment section from other Panthers fans. Usually I would get bashed for trying to represent this franchise at all.
There was merit to that.
The Panthers had/have been so bad for so long they haven't been consistently relevant since Y2K. Yet I was honored and excited to take on this opportunity to write on this highly trafficked site. It has meant the world to me to be able to share my analysis with all of you, whether you agree with me or not.
Today a few of my closest followers made it clear to me that they were not happy about my not having posted in 3 months. They were absolutely right. Here we are right before the draft and there was nowhere for them to mix it up with other fans about what their team may or may not do. That's wrong.
Admittedly I underestimated how many people liked having their Panther outlet here. Personally I wanted to go in another direction with my hockey writing and coverage for the indefinite future, and for the last few months I was working on just that.
But during that time I had a guilty conscience. I knew I should be writing more here. Like other media for the Panthers it is hard to squeeze wine out of a rock all the time. Except for the playoff blip on the radar in 2012 it's been the same old story in Sunrise for many years.
But we all know times are changing and the Panthers actually are showing very legitimate promise for the future.
Additionally, I was also reminded that readers often times pay for their season ticket pass here just for free agency and draft week. More than that, they were used to coming here for another piece of their Panthers content outside of box scores and game write-ups.
I appreciate such dedication, and because of that I've decided to work both hockey avenues moving forward. I am back in the saddle here and as always will do my best to create engaging content as long as I will be allowed. I sincerely apologize to my readership for my absence, and I won't let it happen again.
Unlike the last 8 years where I had to bang my head against a wall to dislodge a story idea, this new and improved Panthers team will be chock full of stories moving forward. I'm excited for the future, as well as communicating with you all as it progresses.
Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I know I didn't say everything exactly the way I wanted to, but this is a hockey site after all. Not a diary.
So let's get into it.
Should the Panthers be comfortable with not thinking defense in any way in this year's first round?
They should be.
During GM Dale Tallon's tenure the Panthers have become one of the deepest organizations in the league, especially on the blue line.
The entire defensive unit from last year should be together again barring any trades, which is good for cohesion. As they say, you can never have enough quality defensemen. I'm sure we all agree on that.
But what is in the current Florida pipeline is downright exciting. Alex Petrovic, Mike Matheson, Ian McCoshen, MacKenzie Weegar, and Joshua Brown are five prospects that will likely all be NHL starters in the future.
When Brian Campbell and Willie Mitchell's days as Panthers are over after next season, those holes will be filled by these promising youngsters. As has been the case starting last season, there might be too many quality bodies for so few starting slots.
But that is a post for another time.
With all the promise on the back end, scoring depth is still a big problem. When Jagr joined Barkov and Huberdeau on the top line, they were lights out. It certainly was refreshing.
When healthy, Brandon Pirri showed he could be just the clutch sniper this team needs to spark the offense on any given night. 22 goals in 49 games was beyond impressive. Who knows his potential over the course of a healthy full season.
Nick Bjugstad was on pace to lead the team in scoring again before his season was cut short after no longer being able to play through a back injury.
Still, with all these positives, the offensive slumps for this team lasted too long. To reverse their fortunes, another offensive piece that can play this year needs to be added in this year's draft.
Rocco Grimaldi and Quinton Howden are penciled in as starters to take the spots of Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky, but there is no doubt competition is wide open for scorers. Besides those two players, no one is showing to be ready now or ever be the type of impact player the Panthers need offensively.
Several mock drafts have C Mathew Barzal going to the Panthers at 11. While he's a strong all-around player, he's a bit undersized and doesn't fit Tallon's drafting of trees in the 1st round. If RW Mikko Rantanen somehow drops to the Panthers or Tallon decides to move up to get him, that would make a lot more sense for the long term.
But the real question is, is there any circumstance in this year's draft where Florida should go defenseman in the first round? They obviously hit a home run with Aaron Ekblad, so should they go for trying to find the offensive version this year?
There are 25 forwards and 13 defenseman listed "in the system" for the Panthers, yet it's the defense with the clear blue chips. Time for that to change.
What do you think? Should the Panthers be targeting someone else if they stay put at 11? Denis Gurianov perhaps? Should they move up or down? Luckily because of all the assets they've acquired over the years they can go in any direction they choose, including trading some of those assets for a big name player.
If you're Dale Tallon, what do you do at 11?
As always, I look forward to your comments. Thanks for reading.
Dan Spiegel Florida Panthers Media