Florida Panthers: Who They Are and Where They’re Headed

The Florida Panthers are in a weird situation, where they aren’t good enough to make a playoff push, nor bad enough to tank for a top draft pick.

It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride for the Florida Panthers this year, filled with lots of emotions and mixed feelings. Regardless, it wouldn’t be the same without the predicament that they put themselves into.

Now that’s all said and done, the Panthers have brought themselves back to where they left off during last season’s second-half playoff push. We know too well how that ended…

Even so, we sit here, twiddling our thumbs, asking ourselves “who are they?” Well, I’ll tell you who they are, but you may not like it (so you’ve been warned).

As we speak based on this team as is, they are currently (at best) a subpar team capable of finishing in close proximity to a playoff position, not quite having *enough* to actually make it.

With talented players like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Vincent Trocheck who are all locked up on team-friendly deals, “just missing it” isn’t good enough, and shouldn’t really be the benchmark.

The three, obviously, are far from the problems that the Panthers face – but owning such talent should at least book you a playoff ticket of some sorts. Unfortunately, that doesn’t ever happen with this team and their luck.

Now that Vincent Trocheck has returned from injury and is back into the fold, the Panthers are barely treading water and are gunning for a playoff position. Only problem? They’re sitting eleven points out of the final wild-card spot with two games in hand.

This team, again, got off to a poor start to the season which put them behind the eight ball early on. Now, much like last season, the Cats have left it late and are trying to achieve a miracle.

In all fairness, they have looked a lot better as of late, winning their last three games against quality sides. But, if we’re being honest here, those types of results needed to show during the first half, and they didn’t.

Even if the Panthers continue on this unsustainable streak, there just isn’t enough time (or room for error) that the Panthers can work with.

Sure, they’ll probably finish ahead of the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes, but is that really much to brag about?

Maybe, just maybe, they’ll even place higher than the Buffalo Sabres, who have struggled mightily. But what I can surely guarantee you of is that this team WILL NOT leapfrog over an experienced team like Pittsburgh to get to their preferred destination.

I mean, after all, we’re talking about a team who has won the Stanley Cup three times in the past decade. Us? We’ve only sniffed playoff action twice in that time span.

And considering how well the Penguins have played, it’s been a cat race between them and the Blue Jackets for a top three spot in the Metro.

Either way, I just realistically don’t see Florida catching either of those two teams. Especially not Pittsburgh.

I’m also not trying to beat up on this team – there’s no one (in my mind) who lives outside of South Florida and is a bigger Panthers fan than me.

But what I’m trying to get at is that this team has not shown that they are capable of competing with the big dogs on a consistent basis, let alone in crunch time where they need to ride over them in the standings.

In all honesty, this team is headed for another year of mediocrity, where they finish just a couple of points shy of making the playoffs, while they settle for another average draft pick.

Ideally, the Panthers can do nothing about this. They aren’t good enough (at this point) to make a run and slip in, and they surely aren’t bad enough (now with Trocheck back) to actually commit to a tank.

The only thing they can do is play this season out as is and head right back to the drawing board as soon as the season concludes. Hopefully this time, real changes will be made that will benefit both the present and the future.

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