It really didnt come as a surprise that the Florida Panthers fired head coach
Kevin Dineen Friday, but its not like a change in the coaching staff is going to
magically cure what ails this team.
Cheap NFL
Jerseys China . Any time a team fails to meet expectations, coaches
end up on the chopping block, but that leads to the question: why would there
have been expectations put upon the Florida Panthers for the 2013-2014 season?
Go back to the 2011-2012 season, when the Panthers won the Southeast Division,
with 94 points in 82 games, despite recording 32 regulation and overtime wins, a
total that tied non-playoff teams Buffalo, Carolina (who finished last in the
Southeast Division) and Colorado for 20th in the league. The Panthers also had a
minus-24 goal differential, so anything beyond the point total in the standings
suggested they were not really a playoff-calibre team. Consider them a prime
example of a team not being what its record is. Then the Panthers proceeded to
lose in double-overtime of Game Seven (after losing in overtime in Game Six) in
the first round of the playoffs against the eventual Eastern-Conference-Champion
New Jersey Devils, making it easy to sell the idea that the Panthers were "this
close" to competing with the top teams in the league. It needs to be noted,
however, that the Panthers overachieved in 2011-2012, to even generate mediocre
results disguised as playoff-worthy. Florida needed to spend a lot of money in
the summer of the 2011 season just to get above the salary floor and, as a
result, cobbled together a make-shift roster, handing out some contracts that
had surprisingly long-term implications. Sure, Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann
(four years, $18-million), and he scored a career-high 61 points in 2011-2012,
and has generally been a productive scorer since. C Marcel Goc (three years,
$5.19-million) has been okay and G Jose Theodore (two years, $3-million) was a
low-risk move, but the Panthers also inked RW Scottie Upshall (four years,
$14-million), D Ed Jovanovski (four years, $16.5-million) and LW Sean Bergenheim
(four years, $11-million), none of whom has provided a decent return on
investment. (Injuries have admittedly played a part in their lack of
production.) The Panthers also dipped into GM Dale Tallons past and traded for
some former Chicago Blackhawks: D Brian Campbell, RW Kris Versteeg and RW
Tomas Kopecky. That roster didnt have any business harbouring playoff
expectations yet, with Dineen taking over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench, the
Panthers defied the odds and reached the postseason, thanks in large part to
Fleischmann, Versteeg and Stephen Weiss, their top line that combined for 70
goals and 172 points. Campbell added 53 points while playing nearly 27 minutes
per game. That quartet made up the entire list of Florida Panthers to record
more than 33 points that season, so there wasnt a lot coming from the supporting
cast. The 2013 season brought much worse results, particularly when injuries
limited Weiss and Versteeg to a total of 27 games and the goaltending went from
decent, ranking 11th with a .914 save percentage, to a league-worst .887 save
percentage in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Those injuries, and subpar
goaltending, over a small-sample season may have been what led Tallon to still
harbour expectations for this team coming into the 2013-2014 season. Or maybe
its because there is a new owner calling the shots that the Panthers couldnt
simply see the 2013-2014 season as one for development of their young talent.
After all, the Panthers have added some promising young players including LW
Jonathan Huberdeau, C Aleksander Barkov and C Nick Bjugstad, who are all playing
significant minutes. D Erik Gudbranson, the third overall pick in 2010, and D
Dmitry Kulikov, the 14th pick in 2009 are still works in progress, but young
enough to be part of what the Panthers are trying to build. G Jacob Markstrom is
supposed to be the goaltender of the future, even if the 23-year-old has
struggled this year. Forwards Vincent Trocheck and Drew Shore and defencemen
Alex Petrovic and Colby Robak have been in the AHL, playing for new head coach
Peter Horacheck. Trocheck, who has 11 points in 11 games as a first-year pro and
nearly made the Panthers out of training camp, could get his opportunity soon.
In the summer of 2013, the Panthers didnt spend big money, but brought in a lot
of veterans on low-money deals. Defencemen Tom Gilbert has been a bargain as a
top-four defenceman while Matt Gilroy and checking forward Jesse Winchester have
been decent. Veteran forwards Brad Boyes and Scott Gomez along with blueliner
Ryan Whitney have not been effective and goaltender Tim Thomas hasnt been able
to stay healthy in his attempt to return to action after a year off. As a
result, the Panthers have the leagues 28th-ranked goal differential (minus-1.36
per game), ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately,
the goaltending hasnt gotten any better this season, ranking 28th with an .885
save percentage, and no team can win with goaltending of that calibre, let alone
a team that isnt scoring at the other end of the ice and the Panthers rank 29th
in 5-on-5 shooting percentage when the score is close. The good news, according
to the probabilities of advanced stats, is that the Panthers arent likely to
maintain such terrible shooting and save percentages all season, so they are due
to get some better results; a little "puck luck" as it were. Of course, being
better than their current 3-9-4 record doesnt mean all that much. When those
young players start to control play more consistently and the Panthers start
getting adequate goaltending, they may turn the corner, but thats going to
require patience and the expectations placed on this team dont necessarily allow
for patience. Trouble is, when a general manager makes moves that appear to
reveal a lack of patience, its fair to start wondering if the next one on the
chopping block will be the GM. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook.
Cheap
Jerseys China . With a pair of freshmen leading the way -- and
breaking some long-standing school records in the process -- the Panthers edged
Bowling Green 30-27 on Thursday night in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
Cheap NFL
Jerseys . With their star forward out for a second straight night
with an unspecified upper-body injury, Washington won its second game in a row
with a 3-2 a shootout victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.
http://www.cheapjerseyschinanfl.us.com/ .
Vancouver Canucks trade Cam Neely & 1st Round Pick to Boston Bruins for
Barry Pederson (1986)Few remember that Neely, the original power forward, spent
the first three years of his career with the Canucks. BALTIMORE -- Paul Blair,
the eight-time Gold Glove centre fielder who helped the Baltimore Orioles win a
pair of World Series titles while gliding to make catches that former teammates
still marvel at more than four decades later, has died. He was 69. Blair died
Thursday night at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, according to a hospital
spokeswoman. Blairs wife, Gloria, told The Baltimore Sun, that Blair played a
round of golf with friends Thursday morning and later lost consciousness at a
celebrity bowling tournament in Pikesville. "Paul was honestly too tired, but he
never says no," Gloria Blair told the newspaper. "During a practice round, he
threw two or three balls, then sat down and told a friend, I feel funny and kind
of collapsed. He lost consciousness and they called 911 and the ambulance took
him to (Sinai), but the doctors there told me they never got a pulse." A member
of the Orioles Hall of Fame, the popular Blair patrolled the outfield from
1964-76, playing key parts when Baltimore won its first two World Series crowns
in 1966 and 1970. He won two more titles with the New York Yankees in 1977 and
1978 and also played for Cincinnati. In an era before highlight reels were a
daily staple on TV, Blair frequently made catches that became the talk of
baseball. Thin and quick, he played with a flair -- at the end of an inning, he
would tuck his glove up against his chest for a regal trot back to the dugout.
"He played very shallow. People talked about how Willie Mays played shallow, and
Paul did the same thing. He played with assuredness," Don Buford, an All-Star
left fielder who played alongside Blair for five seasons in Baltimore, told The
Associated Press late Thursday night. "When you talk about the greatest
defensive centre fielders, he was right in the mix," Buford said. "With me in
left and Frank Robinson in right, we played toward the lines and gave him a lot
of room. He could really go get it." In 17 seasons in the majors, he hit .250
with 134 home runs, 620 RBIs and 171 stolen bases. Blair appeared in six World
Series, two AAll-Star games and won Gold Gloves in 1967 and 1969-75.dddddddddddd
In the 1966 World Series, Blair homered for the only run in Baltimores Game 3
victory over Los Angeles. The underdog Orioles completed an unlikely sweep the
next day, with Blair jumping high above the fence at Memorial Stadium to snare
Jim Lefebvres bid for a tying home run in the eighth inning. It was a timely
grab, too -- Blair had just been inserted in the game as a defensive
replacement. Blair caught a routine fly by Lou Johnson with two runners on base
for the final out in a 1-0 victory in Game 4, and leaped high in the air after
the clinching grab to begin Baltimores celebration. Blair led the Orioles in the
1970 World Series with a .474 average in Baltimores five-game victory over
Cincinnati. That year, he hit three home runs and had six RBIs in a game against
the Chicago White Sox. Beaned by a pitch in late May that season, Blair came
back from the injury to boost the Birds. Ever mindful of being hit in the face,
he would shield his face at first base when retreating to the bag on pickoff
throws. "It affected his hitting a little bit after that, but not his fielding,"
Buford said. Inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1984, Blair coached
Fordham in 1983 and at Coppin State from 1998-2002. He had a heart attack in
December 2009. Blair played baseball and basketball and ran track at Manual Arts
High School in Los Angeles. Blair was originally drafted by the New York Mets
and spent one season in their minor league system. The Orioles drafted him from
the Mets in late 1962. He fit neatly into a team built on strong defence -- led
by third baseman Brooks Robinson -- and pitching, and Baltimore reached the
World Series four times in six years. He was surrounded by stars, yet a picture
or drawing of Blair often made the cover of the Orioles game programs. Friendly
in the clubhouse, he was called "Motormouth" for his constant banter. "Hed be
talking about something, and maybe youd get two words in, and then hed be off
starting another conversation," Buford recalled.
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