Florida Panthers 2014-15 Season Preview

Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Aaron Ekblad puts on a team sweater after being selected as the number one overall pick to the Florida Panthers in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

FLORIDA PANTHERS

 2013-14 RECAP

 The Florida Panthers struggled along yet again for most of the 2013-14 season, and were never really a factor with a patchwork lineup and questionable goaltending.  Some of that might have changed at the trade deadline when the Panthers re-acquired Roberto Luongo to be their #1 goalie.  On the plus side, the Panthers won the draft lottery and had their pick of the crop and chose stud defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the first overall pick.

Mar 22, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Dave Bolland (63) during the pre game warm up against the Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

CHANGES

IN – Dave Bolland, Jussi Jokinen, Derek MacKenzie, Shawn Thornton, Willie Mitchell, Al Montoya

OUT- Jesse Winchester, Scott Gomez, Ed Jovanovski, Krystopher Barch, Tom Gilbert

The Panthers bought out captain Jovanovski and let some other players walk.  They opened the vault for Bolland and Jokinen while Ekblad and Alex Petrivic might get extended looks on the blue line.

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.