Miami Herald Logo

David J. Neal: After playoff tease, losing with youth has gotten old fast for Florida Panthers | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

David J. Neal

David J. Neal: After playoff tease, losing with youth has gotten old fast for Florida Panthers

By David J. Neal

    ORDER REPRINT →

April 13, 2014 12:01 AM

We are gathered here today to officially put to rest another Florida Panthers season without any extras.

Yeah, though the Panthers contain the spirit of youth, they also contain the shortcomings of youth, which is part of the reason they’re out of the playoffs for the 12th time in the last 13 NHL seasons.

The 2013-14 season got put to rest on a decently-attended, but half-hearted Fan Appreciation Night. It was light on the giveaways compared to past years, when every break saw a batch of fans get jerseys, signed pucks, signed sticks, game used skate laces, whatever. Even most of the filmed “thank you, fans, for consuming another season of this burnt Spam” from the players resembled apologies from bored teenagers who put cow poop on your porch.

With 5:33 left in the 3-2 loss to Columbus, the game operations folks showed part of “Network’s” most famous scene, rain-drenched anchorman Howard Beale commanding his audience to rise. It was, of course, a lead in to a “Let’s go, Panthers” cheer. But it showed true chutzpah or at least the surety that the BB&T Center crowd didn’t remember that Beale wanted his viewers to yell out windows “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Panthers fans have justification for that. Two years after a thrilling, heartbreaking Game 7 double overtime playoff series loss to eventual Stanley Cup Finalist New Jersey, the Panthers once again sink into the abyss of failure, without enough resistance from owner’s wallets or mature talent.

Hockey continues to grow in South Florida while the NHL team flounders through another generation of potential South Florida fans. Saturday’s NCAA title game between NCAA champion Union and traditional power Minnesota featured two players from South Florida, exactly the same number of playoff appearances for the Panthers since 1997. This year’s NHL draft features players born during The Year of the Rat, players for whom the Panthers have always existed but only as a regular season entity.

The Panthers have doubled down on that whole last shall be first, first shall be last thing. Only Winnipeg keeps them from being dead last in playoff appearances this century. They’re now last in points for a team’s leading scorer in the NHL’s modern era, rookie Nick Bjugstad’s 38. They finished last on the penalty kill, which coach Peter Horachek said can steal games for you. They finished last on the power play, which Horachek said can win games for you. They’re the first team to reach that special teams Bizarro quinela since the 2009-110 Toronto Maple Leafs. Anytime you’re mentioned as an equivalent to the Leafs, unless it’s ticket or merchandising sales, you’re living in The Carter. Time to move.

That’s move metaphorically. The Panthers aren’t going anywhere. Nowhere else in the United States or Canada (outside of Toronto) with this many television eyeballs would dare offer a team such a favorable arena lease.

Panthers general manager Dale Tallon will meet with new owner Vinnie Viola in May and determine the status of everyone on the hockey side of the organization, including Horachek. Expect the Panthers to bring in a few free agents this year and get out from under some of those deals from their 2011 Oprah summer (“You get a fat four-year contract! And yoooouuuu get a fat four-year contract!”).

Tightening finances forced the Panthers to go with youth. Though most analysts put their under-24 talent among the NHL’s best and center Aleksander Barkov turned out to be a good choice, so far, from last year’s draft, that’s submitting to the pain of professional adolescence.

“You’re going to expect that,” Horachek said. “If we’re going to play young players, we’re going to have mistakes on the defensive side. A lot of the players have been coming from systems and teams where they’ve been doing something one way if you’ve been in college, four years of doing something the same way and they’re not on board yet.

“Individually, we have to make that next step. We have to make the commitment to conditioning. We have to be harder. Our conditioning has to be at the highest level. You can see we’re in these games against playoff teams. Defensively, we have to get better, though a lot of times, it looks like offensively. If you look at the numbers, we still outchanced [Columbus]. We outchance most teams we play against. We have to find a way to make those count.

“We’re getting them. It would be a lot worse when we weren’t getting chances.”

We’ve heard it before: we’re close, we’re maturing, we’ve got some of the best young talent around. Maybe that’ll bear fruit this time. And it is the right way to build a successful team.

But talking about “potential” and “youth” after one playoff appearance since dial-up Internet counted as cutting edge is a tease. The promise of youth gets old when each spring brings another death.

Related stories from Miami Herald

florida-panthers

Florida Panthers end season feeling blue

April 13, 2014 12:01 AM

HOMEPAGE

Game stats | Blue Jackets 3, Panthers 2

April 12, 2014 11:22 PM

HOMEPAGE

Florida Panthers Blog | On Frozen Pond

October 12, 2011 12:19 AM

  Comments  

Videos

Richard Branson speaks at the opening of Venezuela Aid Live

How a border bridge became a flashpoint in Venezuela’s crisis

View More Video

Trending Stories

Federal prosecutors broke law in Jeffrey Epstein case, judge rules

February 21, 2019 02:51 PM

Americans arrested in Haiti with arsenal of guns won’t face U.S. charges

February 21, 2019 04:06 PM

These players Miami Dolphins are discussing in team’s plans. These they’re not, probably aren’t

February 21, 2019 03:08 PM

Kyler Murray available to Miami at No. 13 overall would be great for multiple reasons

February 20, 2019 12:34 AM

‘That’s not my bag, bro!’ Video shows Lil Pump’s fight with Miami cops before arrest

February 21, 2019 01:54 PM

Read Next

Florida Panthers’ Year of the Rat ended in an Avalanche of goodwill

David J. Neal

Florida Panthers’ Year of the Rat ended in an Avalanche of goodwill

By David J. Neal

dneal@miamiherald.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

April 13, 2016 05:00 AM

The Florida Panthers might have been swept 4-0 in the Stanley Cup Final by the Colorado Avalanche, but the fond memories of the playoff run remain 20 years later.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE DAVID J. NEAL

Ride of a lifetime in Snoopy One

David J. Neal

Ride of a lifetime in Snoopy One

March 05, 2016 10:36 PM
David J. Neal: For a change, talent-laden Florida Panthers can stand pat at trade deadline

David J. Neal

David J. Neal: For a change, talent-laden Florida Panthers can stand pat at trade deadline

February 13, 2016 12:09 AM
David J. Neal: Aaron Ekblad’s return gives boost to Florida Panthers in win over Blackhawks

David J. Neal

David J. Neal: Aaron Ekblad’s return gives boost to Florida Panthers in win over Blackhawks

January 22, 2016 11:36 PM
Top 10 South Florida sports stories of 2015

David J. Neal

Top 10 South Florida sports stories of 2015

December 30, 2015 11:51 PM
David J. Neal: South Florida’s sports year marked mostly by failures

David J. Neal

David J. Neal: South Florida’s sports year marked mostly by failures

December 30, 2015 11:13 PM
David vs. Goliath: College football predictions for Week 12

David J. Neal

David vs. Goliath: College football predictions for Week 12

November 19, 2015 08:52 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story