Man, I always forget to post in here. Panthers were hot coming into the All-Star break, and minus a recovering Mackenzie Weegar, not unhealthy. Thus, it came at a particularly bad time for them. The fact that they don't play again until February 1st makes it even tougher on the fans, eagerly waiting. Highest scoring team in the league, but goals against have been oppositely bad. You can see the gradual improvement of the defense under Quenneville - guys like Matheson are no longer nightly liabilities, and while team defensive lapses still happen far too frequently, they are happening less often now than at season's start. This team still badly needs a qualified top 4 D-man. Offense has flourished, and not on the backs of just one line - rather, all four lines are contributing, and Q has been letting the linemates settle in as they've started to succeed. We saw Acciari explode for ridiculous numbers while paired up with Huberdeau, but his performance hasn't fallen off much on the second line with Trocheck. Speaking of, Trocheck has started to come back into form - in a recent interview, he said that he'd still been recovering from the ankle injury that took him out last year. Huby deservedly got his All Star debut, and the first line remains one of the most dangerous in hockey. Vatrano, Hoffman... the team is loaded with scorers. Granted, they've been shooting at a very high percentage thus far, so we'll see if that changes. Bobrovsky hasn't been his usual self this season, but I think that's simply due to the defense. He's used to exploding to the puck and letting a competent defense clear it. Now, he's got a defense that doesn't clear lanes in front of him, lets people walk through the crease, and has been downright bad at clearing rebounds. There's been improvement in that unit over the last month, but it won't be enough for playoff hockey. I'm confident that Bob will earn his paycheck once the defense starts earning theirs. Tallon will need to find a top 4-worthy defenseman that plays defense first - and frankly, doesn't need to play much else. So guys like Vatanen probably shouldn't be on the radar. But if Tallon wants to prove he shouldn't be fired at season's end, he'll get the missing piece before the deadline, and not waste another year. Unfortunately, they're up against the cap, so we may see a contract have to get moved to make that happen. I have no confidence in Tallon, and this is supremely important. Team reporters have said that they're also looking for a physical bottom 6 forward, ideally with playoff experience, as the team is otherwise rather finesse and green behind the gills. I don't know how crucial that is - or even possible, given the cap limitations - but we'll see. That's the element this team lacks most, though they've started to look more prepared in the last month. It just needs to be Saturday, already. I'm jonesing so bad I wrote all this. Hurry up, hockey. Go Panthers.
