Florida Panthers: The Cats Will Finish Third in the Atlantic Division

While they battle with the other powerhouses of the Atlantic, the Florida Panthers are destined to finish third in their division.

Since the Florida Panthers won their division three seasons ago, the talent has increased tremendously. That season, the current powerhouses of the Atlantic were not as strong as they are now. But as time has passed, the other squads have improved tremendously, increasing the competition.

Since that division title for Florida, other division champs have risen, while others have fallen like the Montreal Canadiens.

To enter the 2018-19 season, the division champion will be almost impossible to guess. Arguably, any team in the Atlantic has a fair chance of taking that title. Even with the competition at its peak, the Florida Panthers will finish in third place in the division.

To start, even with the Cats having incredible talent, I predict that the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs will finish in the top two spots in the division. They are possibly the two most stacked teams in the division, especially after Toronto’s big acquisition of John Tavares, and Tampa possessing their superstars.

They’re each built perfectly for each part of the game. They each have top scorers like Tavares and Steven Stamkos, steady defensemen in Victor Hedman and Morgan Rielly, and solid goaltending with netminders like Frederik Andersen and Andrei Vasilevskiy. With complete rosters like these, the Panthers will fall behind the Leafs and Bolts at third place in the division.

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Now, while they may finish lower than a few teams, the Cats have advantages over other squads which make them a prime candidate for the third seed.

For teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabers, they all had something in common last season: dysfunction. While each team has its own respectful organizational issues, they are all too unorganized to finish above the Cats.

Apart from the issues that the aforementioned teams may face, not one of them owns a complete lineup. For Detroit, their lineup is simply too young and inexperienced to play in such an experienced, high-talented division.

With Montreal, they may have one of the world’s best goaltenders, but their offense lacks the ability to score. In the case of Ottawa, they have lost not only one of the league’s best defensemen, but also the proper structure that any organization should have to succeed.

And lastly, for Buffalo, even after making a few additions in the offseason, they’re still a few years away from reaching their goal. At this point in time, the Sabres aren’t ready to be successful in a division like this.

After looking at the teams that will most likely stay in their places, we now look deeper into the Panthers’ biggest competition: the Boston Bruins.

They have what the top two teams in the division have which is the three tools of a successful hockey club (offense, defense, goaltending). Although, there are a few things that put them below the Bolts, Leafs, and Cats this season.

While Boston finished third in the division last year, they’re likely to place fourth in the Atlantic this season. Although they have everything to fit a great team, it’s their consistency that will haunt them.

To start the 2017-18 season off, the Bruins began with an incredible win streak which really put them ahead of the pack. However, after their solid start to the year, their brand of hockey eventually fell.

This style of inconsistency could likely continue for the Bs heading in the season, and if that happens, you can surely bet that the Panthers will pounce on such an opportunity to leapfrog over what could be their biggest roadblock.

And finally, after a productive offseason where the Panthers picked up what was needed from their summer shopping list, they now own all the tools to be successful for the upcoming season. The addition of Mike Hoffman should help put them over the top and into 3rd place in the division.

After close consideration of the Panthers and their competition, it can be concluded that they will finish third in the Atlantic Division this season.