Hockey is back for the Florida Panthers as they kick off their season playing host to the Chicago Blackhawks!
As a big Hawks fan too, these are always extra fun games for me - even though the Windy City crew’s DNA has drastically changed this season.
A couple months back, the Hawks GM (Stan Bowman) announced that Chicago would be heading into this year in rebuild mode. Never anything fans want to hear, but certainly a necessity for the organ-I-zation.
Rebuilds bring pain, but also new energy and growth. So it was actually kind of exciting to think about the young guys coming up and getting a shot to play alongside Hawks’ mainstays like Toews, Kane, Keith, etc...
But then bad news hit the Blackhawks in the form of three key players being held out of action for most (if not all of) this season:
Toews - Illness
Nylander - Knee
Dach - Wrist
To make matters worse for the Hawks, they are sticking to their guns of running a platoon in the blue paint that consists of three goalies: Malcolm Subban, Colin Delia and Kevin Lankinen. Between the three, there is a total of 86 games of NHL experience - Subban (67), Delia (19), Lankinen (0).
So the Hawks are kind of running an AHL gambit in net and have made it known that they’re going to go with whoever has the hot hand.
What does that tell me?
Personally, I think the Hawks looked at this shortened 56 game season and saw it as a “throw away” of sorts and a way to jump on their rebuild early. I think a big tell is from some of their moves (or lack of), but especially the above-mentioned goalie situation. By not bringing in a veteran netminder (even a cheap one) to eat some starts/mentor these guys, I think they run the risk of crushing their young goalie corp’s confidence - and I don’t think they have any plans to bring in help with the money they get back from putting Toews and Dach on LTIR.
I also don’t think they’re planning on putting that LTIR space in any other areas of the ice, either. I think they’re content with what they have and giving the young guys a shot and most likely battle Detroit for last in the Central.
What Do the Panthers Have to Do to Win?
On paper the Panthers should beat the Hawks. But we all know that doesn’t mean anything - any team can be beaten on any night. Florida needs to remember that despite Chicago’s current situation, guys like Kane, DeBrincat, Strome (he and DeBrincat have chemistry) and Kubalik (when he gets going) are still out there. These guys are more than capable of inflicting some offensive damage if they get the chance. Below are two good examples of that from last night, so the Cats would be wise to know when these guys are on the ice.
While the Panthers had the unique advantage of some extra time to practice and gel longer than any other team so far, the Hawks have two games under their belt against a powerful Lightning team. So in theory, the Hawks were able to work on timing and get up to game speed, whereas the Cats have not. It will be important to come out firing on all cylinders and avoid the “rust” and sloppy play most teams had their first game back.
It’s true that the Hawks have some talented second-year guys and fresh faces, but they’re prone to rookie mistakes and the other pitfalls new guys make. Florida needs to take advantage of these kinds of things. The Lightning did it yesterday when Delia came out to play a puck, turned it over, lost his edge and fell trying to get back to the net. Tampa scored on this play, and, truthfully, it was the turning point for the Hawks. Up until then, they were staying right with the Lightning, but once that happened, it seemed to change the tide in Tampa’s favor.
So there’s no coincidence that the most important key to the game is linked to the above: Get. Pucks. To. The. Net.
If there’s one thing the Panthers and Hawks share, it’s a love of passing, and passing, and over-passing, instead of putting the puck on net when the opportunity is there. Both the Hawks’ defense and goaltending situation is extremely vulnerable. Remember I mentioned the part about new guys making new guy mistakes? Well, those mistakes happened often in the key areas of the blue line and blue paint in both loses to Tampa.
Don’t get me wrong, both Subban and Delia made some incredible saves on busted defensive plays, but they also exposed their own flaws at different points in the games they started.
So if the Panthers want to find the back of the net, they need to attack the weak points of the defense and goaltending by putting pucks on early and often. Look, Tampa didn’t score 10 goals in two games by not taking their shots when they had them.
Lastly, I think the Panthers would be wise to embrace the “new.” While the Hawks are going through a true rebuild, the Cats are going through somewhat of a “rebuild” themselves. While it’s not a complete tearing down of a team and front office, there have been a lot of changes to the roster and front office.
Zito is building a deeper team and changing its makeup. It appears some guys are getting onboard with it. Why not? This is a great opportunity for this team (and its fans) to have something to really look forward to:
“No question about it, I’m ready to be hurt again.” - Michael Scott
Q - big pace guy...all about the pace. Haha.
In Other News
Driedger will get the start for Florida tomorrow with Monty backing him up.
It’s also looking like Yandle and his Iron Man streak might live on:
Lastly, there have been some
rumors floating around regarding Zito taking trade calls on Barkov. This sent a number of the Panthers faithful into a tizzy.
But
The Hockey Writers Reported the following today:
“
TSN’s Frank Seravalli reported Thursday that Barkov was drawing interest from rival general managers and while Seravalli did say Panthers GM Bill Zito was not interested in making a trade, the GM felt it necessary to approach the player anyways.
Florida Hockey Now reporter George Richards notes that both sides spoke and that Barkov joked about it. “Bill talked to me right away, he told me they aren’t true,” said Barkov. He added, “So it’s all good and I am concentrating on the start of the season. Thank you for mentioning this is my first time being mentioned in trade rumors.“
My opinion is that even if Zito was taking calls on Barkov, who cares? I have to believe GMs are constantly talking, listening to offers and wheelin’ and dealin’. To me, it would be weird if a GM wasn’t listening to offers for a star player. Imagine the packages being offered for a guy like Barky? Also, it would be even weirder to think GMs weren’t making offers for guys like Barky - whether of not Zito said he’s not available.
_________________________
Start getting the cold ones chilled, guys...the puck is dropping!
Florida Panthers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»