The Ex-Panther Factor!

Here’s an article that I posted on the Fansided Sports Main page today.  It’s part of some additional work that I’m doing for our sports network covering the NHL.   I thought that in case you didn’t go there, you needed to see this, especially if you follow the Panthers.  Due to some site constraints  There’s a couple things I’m not used to yet,   so I modified this one just a bit.

After reading, I’d love your thoughts and comments.   I really think we may have something here!

Is it possible for an NHL playoff team to have a”curse” because of too many former players from a franchise with a history of futility?

In baseball, there’s a phrase called the Ex-Cub Factor that was coined by writer and Chicago Cubs fan Ron Berler in 1981.  The premise being that any team that made it to the World Series would lose based on how many ex-Cubs were on the roster.  In 1981 the New York Yankees had 5 ex-Cubs and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games.  In the 2002 World Series the California Angels (one ex-Cub) defeated the San Francisco Giants (three ex-Cubs) and fulfilled the ex-Cub factor for the 20th time.  There’s even a historical page with data to support it here.

Therefore since this year is the anniversary of the Florida Panthers not qualifying for the playoffs for 10 consecutive years (lockout included), I think it’s appropriate to begin tracking the NHL playoffs similarly.  Calling it The Ex-Panther Factor.

There’s alot of movement in the NHL due to free agency, but when a young player who’s assumed to be more than half way decent starts their career in Florida, you can pretty much count on  him being traded, or leaving via free agency.  One thing they’ve all had in common, is that if they’ve been there during this drought, they have no playoff experience.  Roberto Luongo, Olli Jokinen, Jay Bouwmeester to name a few go along with a host of others that have had little or no playoff experience, or have had poor performances once they made the playoffs such as Roberto Luongo has.  His 11-11 record begs to argue, “Can he win the big one”.

Since we’re still in the first round let’s take a look and see which team(s) this presents a problem for.

Washington, Philadelphia,Montreal, Los Angeles, and Chicago all luck out and have no ex-Panthers.  Good scouting and good management has prevented the infiltration of this.

However Montreal does have Jacques Martin as it’s head coach and since he was coach and general manager for Florida, you must count this against the Habs.

There are a few teams with one:

Phoenix has Ed Jovonovski, San Jose has Dan Boyle, Boston has Dennis Seidenberg, Buffalo has Steve Montador and Pittsburgh has Jordan Leopold who was with the Panthers  just long enough to learn how to skate with his head down.

Teams with two are:

Detroit with Todd Bertuzzi and Andreas Lilja, Colorado has Craig Anderson and Ruslan Salei, and New Jersey has Rob Neidermayer and Martin Skoula  Now Skoula is a technicality since he was only in training camp and was cut from the Panthers before the regular schedule started, but I think he just might have been there long enough to catch whatever curse lingers in the dressing room.

Finally we get to the loser winner of the contest.  The Vancouver Canucks.  They posses five ex-Florida Panthers on their roster.  Tanner Glass, Darcy Hordichuk, Ryan Johnson, Mikael Samuelsson and of course Roberto Luongo.  Careful Canuckleheads as this has already affected your playoff performance twice.  Last year when Louie gave up seven goals to the Hawks including a nifty backhander by Patrick Kane, and the year before in overtime, when Louie thought a penalty should have been called during play and he took a glance at the referee to apparently say something, and a shot wizzed past him for the series winning goal!

If you want proof that it works in the Stanley Cup finals you just need to see last year’s results and know that the Pittsburgh Penguins had zero ex Panthers, while the Red Wings had three, Todd Bertuzzi, Andreas Lilja and Mikael Samuelsson.  Samuelsson has since been removed from Detroit’s roster.

Say what you want about these players and some others that are spreadout in the NHL.  They may help you get to the playoffs, but once your in, I strongly suggest that you HEALTHY SCRATCH  ANY PLAYER THAT USED TO PLAY FOR THE PANTHERS. 

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Thanks for reading.

Your comments are always welcomed and appreciated.