Has anyone else noticed that Martin might be building a contender in Florida? The Panthers missed the post-season by only 6 points last year and they suffered the highest number of OT losses in the Eastern conference (16), likely due to their terrible goaltending. As such, their goal differential was in the red (-10) but nominally better than the three teams directly above them in the standings (Toronto, Montreal and Carolina).
So obviously the addition of Tomas Vokoun will go a long way to deleting some goals against and adding wins. Vokoun has hovered around the .920 SV% mark the last two seasons (albeit on a better team in the Western Conference). Even if he drops down to the .910 SV% level, that'll be a 0.008 (0.8%) improvement above and beyond what Belfour offered last year, and a .022 improvement over Auld. Point eight percent doesn't sound like a lot, but equates to 5 less goals against over the 1550 shots Belfour faced in 06/07. Add to the fact that the 2.2% increase in SV% from Auld to Vokoun over 729 shots equates to 16 less goals against and you have a team with a few more wins in their procket thanks to goaltending alone.
Course, Martin has also quietly gone about improving his team in other ways as well this summer. He's added under the radar guys like Radek Dvorak, Richard Zednik and Brett McLean, all of whom are relatively effective vets that should solidify the Panthers bottom six forwards. He also inked Cory Murphy, the undersized puck moving Canadian who, until the recent World Championships, toiled in obscurity in the Finnish Elite League. In addition, Martin re-signed one of the leagues best kept secrets, Joszef Stumpel, to a very reasonable contract (2.25M for 2 years). Stumpel scored 23 goals last year, and 25 points on the PP in just 231 minutes of play. That's a 6.49 PPP/60 rate of production, among some of the best in the league. He wasn't much of a threat at ES (1.91 ESP/60), but for 20 goals and a high level of efficacy on the PP, one can do much worse for $2.25M.
The true quality assets, however, are the Panthers impressive young players. Olli Jokinen cracked the 90 point barrier for the first time in his career last year, and managed an impresive 3.00 ESP/60 rating. At 28 years old, he's entering his prime years and looks to be poised to join the ranks of the NHL's notable Big Guns. In addition, the Panthers boast the likes of Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss up front as well as Jay Bouwmeester, Bryan Allen, Mike Van Ryn and Noah Welch on the blueline. Bouwmeester in particular took a few more steps towards becoming the elite defender his natural skills suggest: He faced the toughest competition on the team, played in front of some brutal goaltending on a losing club and still managed a +23 rating. He also scored 12 goals and 42 points, the former being a large improvement over his previous best of 5. A career year for the young rising star is no doubt in order next season.
Bryan Allen, the last vestige of the Luongo trade, played a lot at ES and SH last season and wasn't under water. He's only 26 and looks to be rounding into a capable top 4 defender. At least they got something out of that deal.
There's also Noah Welch, the big, promising prospect the Panthers acquired from the Penguins in return for Gary Roberts at the deadline last year, and he looks to be ready to contribute at the NHL level. He's 24 and has some decent AHL numbers behind him. Rounding out a capable top 6 defense corps is Ruslan Salei and Mike Van Ryn. Salei is a vet who struggled last year, but will likely fare better with a lighter work load and improved goaltending behind him. Van Ryn is a PP point producer who can eat up some minutes at ES without hurting the team too badly. With Van Ryn, Murphy and Bouwmeester manning the points, the Panthers have some decent weapons on the back-end with the man advantage.
Course, one also has to consider that Florida plays in the SE conference, still one of the worst in the league. Atlanta was condemned as the weakest division champion going into the play-offs last season and they quickly proved the pundits right by being unceremoniously swept aside by the Rangers. Waddell has done little more than re-arrange deck chairs this summer by adding Eric Perrin, Todd White and Ken Klee. Klee is a wily vet, but isn't a differece maker here. They lost Tkachuk to free agency and surrendered a young, blossoming prospect in Braydon Coburn to the Flyers for Alexei Zhitnik at the deadline. They are still in desperate need of some top 6 talent, especially someone to feed Kovalchuk when Hossa isn't doing it on the PP.
Yup. The stars will have to align for the Thrashers to take the SE again.
The Hurricanes are a decent team with mediocre defensive depth and only average goaltending. If Cam Ward struggles again, they may well end up outside the play-off picture for the second straight year. Washington is building something, but they aren't there yet. The Caps still lack depth at almost every position and will be cannon fodder for the NHL's better teams against next year. The Lightning will probably make the post-season on the backs of their elite 3 again next year (that's how good they are), but I don't see them running away with the division thanks to their lackluster blueline depth, wince-worthy bottom six forwards and their goaltending, which has been an issue in Tampa since the Bulin Wall fell.
Anyways, it looks to me like Panthers are the strongest team in the division, at least on paper at this point. They easily have one of the top 2 goalies, the best blueline and the potential to score some goals, especially if Jokinen, Weiss and Horton continue to improve. I don't think they'll be challenging the Ottawa Senators of the world for the Eastern Conference, but are probably play-off bound for the first time in awhile assuming nothing much changes in the South East between now and then.
