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Can the Panthers make the playoffs with this blueline?

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It's bad, but Montour returning, and the fact they have a few great two way forwards will keep their GA from bottom 10 territory imo. Plus it sounds like Ekblad will return this season at some point.

As long as they keep the offense going, I don't think it's a major issue. I wouldn't pick them for the President's trophy again, but I'd bet on playoffs.
 
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Florida will be fine. This is a bit of a scheduled down year due to dead cap + bad contracts. Yandle's $5M buyout and Hornquist will be off the books next year + added cap if it goes up. That + no key guys to immediately sign means Florida can add to the blueline. The only issue here is Zito trading this year's first unprotected for a plug. But Florida should make the post-season either way.
 
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Probably not if they have to play the whole season with the current pairings but I don't expect they will so they should make the playoffs.
 
The names may be worse on paper. But I think the structure they play with may be better. So far, the structure has been better. That makes a difference to me. We'll see how the rest of the season goes.
And Montour will be back. And Ekblad will be back at some point too. So there's that also.
 
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With the way the league's offenses have looked so far this year, it's going to be tough with that d-core. Toronto and Tampa have elite offenses, so far Boston has been scoring about 5 goals a game too. Ottawa's no slouch in the division either. So if they get out to a slow start due to injuries and lose a lot of points inside the division, it may be hard to catch up in the second half
 
tarheelhockey said:
I mean Jesus, is it not pretty evident that the core of that D has been gutted? Going from a particularly dominant President’s Trophy team to… that… is a large step back.

The forward group is good enough to keep the bottom from falling out, but that’s assuming all the forwards are healthy and on top of their games, which is a massive assumption 4 games into the season.
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You do realize this is a one year drop correct? Do you see the cap space next year?
 
tarheelhockey said:
I mean Jesus, is it not pretty evident that the core of that D has been gutted? Going from a particularly dominant President’s Trophy team to… that… is a large step back.

The forward group is good enough to keep the bottom from falling out, but that’s assuming all the forwards are healthy and on top of their games, which is a massive assumption 4 games into the season.
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Their defense was nothing to write home about last year. They outscored shaky defense all season. So far, there seems to be team wide focus on playing defense, we’ll see how it goes.
There’s no return to despair, they should be in the playoffs this year, and next summer enough cap space opens up for Zito to add to his defense. He could’ve kept the same roster from last year, but next year would’ve been a nightmare trying to keep those (recently traded) UFAs. I think the real return to despair might’ve been down that path.
 
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Panthers ain’t making the playoffs with a 1-5 start.
There is a reason they fired their coach.
They‘re hoping to finish last and get Young now…
 
tarheelhockey said:
Well yeah, they were fine without Ekblad because they had Weegar out there blowing away all expectations. The same Weegar who left during the off-season. The #1 in that lineup is now Gustav Forsling, a good player but miles from being a replacement for what was lost.

If anything keeps it from getting too bad, it’ll be the new-coach boost that Paul Maurice has made a career of. Maybe he gets a group effort out of them that contains the damage… they wouldn’t be the first team to do that. But if they make the playoffs it’ll be with the worst D group out of any playoff team, no?
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Forsling paired with Weegar when Ekblad was out.... he was a big part of it working
 
They could. But I'm not so sure it's likely they make the playoffs with that blue line.
 
tarheelhockey said:
Well yeah, they were fine without Ekblad because they had Weegar out there blowing away all expectations. The same Weegar who left during the off-season. The #1 in that lineup is now Gustav Forsling, a good player but miles from being a replacement for what was lost.

If anything keeps it from getting too bad, it’ll be the new-coach boost that Paul Maurice has made a career of. Maybe he gets a group effort out of them that contains the damage… they wouldn’t be the first team to do that. But if they make the playoffs it’ll be with the worst D group out of any playoff team, no?
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Forslings the best dman on the team. Has been for the past year. Also quite a bit better than Weegar. Expect a big extension for him this season
 
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HockeyVirus said:
FfdhqGMWYAUGlRX


This is their Dcore for the foreseeable future



So basically he is going to miss significant time after having a poor start to the season, and the hope will be he will be able to come back from a major injury, turn it around and be an elite dman who carries this Dcore and doesn't get re-injured.

I am posting this now because they have a winning record so I don't want to seem like I am piling on, more I am suggesting that this start is not sustainable and as the games go on there is going to be pain there. Especially when you consider the Panthers have had their goaltending start red hot but the stats still suggest it is only league average.

So I am asking, will the Panthers make the playoffs icing this Dcore?
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Can you go 24 hours without posting about the Panthers?
 
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