Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Players angry at results
Panthers have optimism they’ll return to form next season
SUNRISE — One common theme was expressed by an assembly line of disappointed players outside the Florida Panthers’ cleaned-out dressing room in the underbelly of the BB&T Center on Tuesday morning.
None of them wanted to be there in street clothes talking about their summer plans. Following last season’s franchise-best 103-point season and Atlantic Division title, they all firmly believed they’d be starting their preparation for a deep run into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“It was not the season we envisioned,” said Panthers hobbled goalie Roberto Luongo, who couldn’t hide his disappointment behind a Fu Manchu mustache and beard. “Especially in April last year, if you would’ve told me I’d be standing here today I would’ve thought you were crazy. But here we are.
“I think we’re all disappointed in that locker room that we didn’t get the job done and we have to realize that even though we have the talent, sometimes it takes more than talent to become successful in this league. It takes a lot of things and unfortunately we didn’t have enough of those to make it work this year.”
NHL pundits point to the many offseason changes on and off the ice. Some say the sudden firing of coach Gerard Gallant 21 games into the season and replacing him
with general manager Tom Rowe, who had no NHL head coaching experience, was a huge mistake.
Rowe was fired from both roles on Monday and will serve as an advisor to Dale Tallon, who resumed his GM role as well being the president of hockey operations. Also let go were assistant coaches Dave Barr and Scott Allen.
Tallon told his players to look ahead and not back on a season that began imploding in the final week of preseason when forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad sustained serious injuries.
“It’s frustrating, anytime you’re here doing this meeting in April, it’s obviously a tough pill to swallow,” said Panthers forward Reilly Smith, who dropped from 25 goals and 50 points last season to 15 goals and 37 points this season. “I don’t think there are too many people in this organization or that locker room [that] is happy with the way the season went. Obviously, already changes have been made. From ownership down to every player, everyone is looking for answers to turn this around as quickly as possible so next year, we’re not here.
“Injuries were tough this year and there were a lot of changes in the organization. It felt like it was just a big negative snowball effect. [What] we focused on today is turning everything around, starting from scratch, starting with a new program this coming season.”
Colton Sceviour, one of the offseason acquisitions who helped improve the Panthers’ penalty kill from 24th (79.5 percent) last season to second this season (85.3), said this disastrous season will serve as motivation.
“No one in there is happy with how the season ended,” Sceviour said. “As much as it sucks, it’s a kick in the pants, too, for everyone to come in next year and realize what we did this year wasn’t good enough.”
Jaromir Jagr, a free agent on July 1, said that he and Tallon would continue to discuss whether or not the 45-year-old forward will return next season.
Jagr, who scored 16 goals and 46 points and played every game, felt he lost too much weight last summer in an effort to gain speed, and as a result his shot wasn’t as hard. He also believes that the Panthers would still be playing if injuries to his young linemates Aleksander Barkov and Huberdeau hadn’t reduced the trio’s time together to just 25 games.
“It was a rough year, a lot of changes, starting the season with a lot of key injuries,” Jagr said. “We didn’t play good enough to make the playoffs and it was a disappointing season.
“Of course, those are two pretty key players for us. With them in the lineup it would probably be different results, especially in some games early in the season. It just didn’t happen. Injuries are part of the sport but when you lose guys like that, it’s not easy to overcome.”
Every player believes that the team will rebound next season and only needs a few tweaks to compete for a Stanley Cup.
“After we were eliminated [last year] we felt we were one or two pieces away from being a contender,” Luongo said. “I think we’re kind of in that same spot. The core is there. They’re great young players that are here for awhile to stay, so it’s just a matter of surrounding those guys with the right pieces and to make sure they continue to develop into superstars in this league.
“Once we get to that it will be scary for what we can do as a team.”