Which is the hottest team in the NHL right now? Which team boasts the league's lowest goals-against average?
The answer to both questions is the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers' recent hot streak – 10 wins in a row! – has propelled them to the top of the Atlantic Division. That's a lofty height for a team that has only finished first one time in franchise history and has missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons.
The architect of this roster is GM Dale Tallon, and this isn't the first time he's built a team this impressive. He was in a similar situation with the Blackhawks in 2003 – Chicago was a floundering franchise when he started out and missed the postseason in Tallon's first three years. But in his fourth year with Chicago, the 'Hawks finally made the playoffs; they haven't been left out of springtime play since.
With their success to date, the Panthers look like a cinch to get back to the playoffs, taking that first step back to respectability.
The job has been accomplished with the same blueprint. Tallon has hit on a high percentage of his top draft choices and he has filed out the roster with some careful free-agent additions.
A series of high draft picks has yielded top-six forwards Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, each of whom is blessed with good size, great offensive skill and a high hockey IQ. Tallon, a No. 2 overall pick himself
Which is the hottest team in the NHL right now? Which team boasts the league's lowest goals-against average?
The answer to both questions is the Florida Panthers.
The Panthers' recent hot streak – 10 wins in a row! – has propelled them to the top of the Atlantic Division. That's a lofty height for a team that has only finished first one time in franchise history and has missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons.
The architect of this roster is GM Dale Tallon, and this isn't the first time he's built a team this impressive. He was in a similar situation with the Blackhawks in 2003 – Chicago was a floundering franchise when he started out and missed the postseason in Tallon's first three years. But in his fourth year with Chicago, the 'Hawks finally made the playoffs; they haven't been left out of springtime play since.
With their success to date, the Panthers look like a cinch to get back to the playoffs, taking that first step back to respectability.
The job has been accomplished with the same blueprint. Tallon has hit on a high percentage of his top draft choices and he has filed out the roster with some careful free-agent additions.
A series of high draft picks has yielded top-six forwards Nick Bjugstad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, each of whom is blessed with good size, great offensive skill and a high hockey IQ. Tallon, a No. 2 overall pick himself in 1970, knows the importance of hockey IQ, and his ability to identify it has been on display in Florida, just as it was in Chicago.
The Panthers' defense is also infused with top prospects Aaron Ekblad, Eric Gudbranson and Dmitri Kulikov, all first-round picks as well.
As mentioned, some key veterans have been beacons for the younger players. Up front, Jaromir Jagr is the club leader in points and has shown the way with a tough workout regimen as well. On the blue line, Tallon added Brian Campbell, whom he knew from their time in Chicago. Campbell has been a fine example for the young blueliners and has earned accolades as something of a mentor for this group.
Last year, the GM added the final stabilizing force in goalie Roberto Luongo, who returned to the place where he made his name as an NHL netminder. This is perhaps the most important addition, as Luongo has long been regarded as one of the top goalies in the league for a long time, and the Montreal native actually loves playing in Florida.
Perhaps Luongo's happiness has rubbed off on the other players, who must have felt in previous years like they were stuck in hockey's version of Siberia, away from the NHL's limelight. With the success they are enjoying this season, the fans are coming back in large numbers; it's become a completely different game-day experience.
So the Tallon plan looks like it will work for a second time. It's not really a secret formula; the top draft choices have to work out, while trades and free-agent acquisitions need to find the right fits to advance the cause. Many other teams try to use the same formula, but only a few hit at the high percentage that Tallon has achieved twice now.
Ducks starting to quack
Anaheim began this season with high hopes after losing to the eventual Cup champions in each of the last two postseasons. Expectations were that the Ducks would take the final step as a serious Cup contender this season.
Instead, they limped out to a horrible 1-7-2 record that had them at the bottom of the NHL standings. The most stunning aspect of that inauspicious debut was the fact that Anaheim was shut out in four of the season's first seven games.
An underwhelming scoring pace has been a consistent thread throughout the first three months of the schedule for the Ducks. That's still a very troubling factor, particularly when we note that the Ducks were among the top-scoring teams last year, that they still boast signature players Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, and that they still employ three of the top-scoring blueliners in the league last year (Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler).
To underline the offensive shortfall, nine players scored at least 11 goals for the Ducks last season; only five are on pace to reach that total this year.
No one has epitomized these struggles more than captain Getzlaf, who has been limited to only three goals in 34 games, although his 20 assists are up to his normal standard.
Veteran coach Bruce Boudreau knows that he can't really teach scoring, but he can impact the club's defensive approach more readily.
Thanks to Boudreau's tweaks to that side of the Ducks' game, the club has slowly crept back into the playoff race. The player who has benefitted from this commitment more than anyone is John Gibson. The young netminder lost his roster spot to Anton Khudobin at training camp, then performed admirably and without complaint at AHL San Diego, mindful that steady play would get him back to the NHL. Injuries to the other goalies gave him that chance, and he hasn't looked back. In 15 appearances, Gibson has recorded and 8-4-2 record, with four shutouts and a microscopic 1.63 GAA and an equally impressive .932 save percentage.
The Ducks have finally climbed over the .500 mark on the season and are quite healthy, missing only Fowler, who's out 4-to-6 weeks with a knee injury, and I believe they have too much quality roster depth to take a backward step the rest of the way.
White noise grows louder in Tampa
After last year's spirited playoff run to the Stanley Cup Finals, things are not going nearly so well in Tampa this season. Injuries to Tyler JohnsonOndrej Palat wrecked the Lightning's most productive line early on, while the unresolved Steven Stamkos contract situation has gained increasing scrutiny, particularly after Yzerman inked head coach Jon Cooper to a long contract extension. This would seem to have empowered Cooper to run the bench without concern, as he clearly has management's support.
That perception has coincided with a decline in the star center's productivity, with unrestricted free agency at the end of this season looming on the horizon for Stamkos.
Last week, Lightning management made a big decision on another high-profile player, sending Jonathan Drouin to the AHL after he gradually fell down the Tampa depth chart. This decision was met with a formal request from Drouin and his agent for a trade – apparently not for the first time.
It seems clear that these instances of friction between Tampa's players and management are at least partially to blame for the fact that the Lightning are currently on the outside looking in at the playoff picture. They're in real danger of missing the postseason altogether – an outcome that no one would have predicted at the start of the year.
If this continues to play out, you have to wonder where two of the Lightning's top young talents will be playing next year. It sure looks like they won't be in Tampa.
