Florida Panthers 2014-15 Season Preview

Mar 25, 2014; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo (1) makes the game winning save against Ottawa Senators left wing Milan Michalek (9) during a shootout at BB&T Center. The Panthers won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

3 BIG QUESTIONS

 1.  Is Luongo still elite? – Bobby Lou is a twitter sensation and was one of the best goalies in the world before being inexplicably thrown under the bus in Vancouver and going through 2 seasons of absolute lunacy.  They key to any Florida turnaround begins between the pipes and at 35 the Panthers hope he has four or 5 good seasons in him.

2. What is Dave Bolland? – The Panthers paid a mint (5 years, $35.5M for a player who is at best a marginal 2nd line centre and at worst a good 3rd line pivot.  Yes, he has a couple of cup rings from Chicago, but he is going to have to step into a new stratosphere of production to make that contract digestable.

3. Who is going to score? – I had to do a double-take when I looked at the stats and saw that Nick Bjugstad led Florida last season with 38 points….yes 38.  This seems to be a group that has a whole bunch of the same type of player, and that is mid-level forwards.  Its time for Jonathan Huberdeau, Bjugstad and Aleksander Barkov to step up and start accumulating points.