Blubberecke » taking over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench

It really didnt come as a surprise that the Florida Panthers fired head coach Kevin Dineen Friday, but its not like a change in the coaching staff is going to magically cure what ails this team. Any time a team fails to meet expectations, coaches end up on the chopping block, but that leads to the question: why would there have been expectations put upon the Florida Panthers for the 2013-2014 season? Go back to the 2011-2012 season, when the Panthers won the Southeast Division, with 94 points in 82 games, despite recording 32 regulation and overtime wins, a total that tied non-playoff teams Buffalo, Carolina (who finished last in the Southeast Division) and Colorado for 20th in the league. The Panthers also had a minus-24 goal differential, so anything beyond the point total in the standings suggested they were not really a playoff-calibre team. Consider them a prime example of a team not being what its record is. Then the Panthers proceeded to lose in double-overtime of Game Seven (after losing in overtime in Game Six) in the first round of the playoffs against the eventual Eastern-Conference-Champion New Jersey Devils, making it easy to sell the idea that the Panthers were "this close" to competing with the top teams in the league. It needs to be noted, however, that the Panthers overachieved in 2011-2012, to even generate mediocre results disguised as playoff-worthy. Florida needed to spend a lot of money in the summer of the 2011 season just to get above the salary floor and, as a result, cobbled together a make-shift roster, handing out some contracts that had surprisingly long-term implications. Sure, Florida signed Tomas Fleischmann (four years, $18-million), and he scored a career-high 61 points in 2011-2012, and has generally been a productive scorer since. C Marcel Goc (three years, $5.19-million) has been okay and G Jose Theodore (two years, $3-million) was a low-risk move, but the Panthers also inked RW Scottie Upshall (four years, $14-million), D Ed Jovanovski (four years, $16.5-million) and LW Sean Bergenheim (four years, $11-million), none of whom has provided a decent return on investment. (Injuries have admittedly played a part in their lack of production.) The Panthers also dipped into GM Dale Tallons past and traded for some former Chicago Blackhawks: D Brian Campbell, RW Kris Versteeg and RW Tomas Kopecky. That roster didnt have any business harbouring playoff expectations yet, with Dineen taking over for Peter DeBoer behind the bench, the Panthers defied the odds and reached the postseason, thanks in large part to Fleischmann, Versteeg and Stephen Weiss, their top line that combined for 70 goals and 172 points. Campbell added 53 points while playing nearly 27 minutes per game. That quartet made up the entire list of Florida Panthers to record more than 33 points that season, so there wasnt a lot coming from the supporting cast. The 2013 season brought much worse results, particularly when injuries limited Weiss and Versteeg to a total of 27 games and the goaltending went from decent, ranking 11th with a .914 save percentage, to a league-worst .887 save percentage in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Those injuries, and subpar goaltending, over a small-sample season may have been what led Tallon to still harbour expectations for this team coming into the 2013-2014 season. Or maybe its because there is a new owner calling the shots that the Panthers couldnt simply see the 2013-2014 season as one for development of their young talent. After all, the Panthers have added some promising young players including LW Jonathan Huberdeau, C Aleksander Barkov and C Nick Bjugstad, who are all playing significant minutes. D Erik Gudbranson, the third overall pick in 2010, and D Dmitry Kulikov, the 14th pick in 2009 are still works in progress, but young enough to be part of what the Panthers are trying to build. G Jacob Markstrom is supposed to be the goaltender of the future, even if the 23-year-old has struggled this year. Forwards Vincent Trocheck and Drew Shore and defencemen Alex Petrovic and Colby Robak have been in the AHL, playing for new head coach Peter Horacheck. Trocheck, who has 11 points in 11 games as a first-year pro and nearly made the Panthers out of training camp, could get his opportunity soon. In the summer of 2013, the Panthers didnt spend big money, but brought in a lot of veterans on low-money deals. Defencemen Tom Gilbert has been a bargain as a top-four defenceman while Matt Gilroy and checking forward Jesse Winchester have been decent. Veteran forwards Brad Boyes and Scott Gomez along with blueliner Ryan Whitney have not been effective and goaltender Tim Thomas hasnt been able to stay healthy in his attempt to return to action after a year off. As a result, the Panthers have the leagues 28th-ranked goal differential (minus-1.36 per game), ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres. Unfortunately, the goaltending hasnt gotten any better this season, ranking 28th with an .885 save percentage, and no team can win with goaltending of that calibre, let alone a team that isnt scoring at the other end of the ice and the Panthers rank 29th in 5-on-5 shooting percentage when the score is close. The good news, according to the probabilities of advanced stats, is that the Panthers arent likely to maintain such terrible shooting and save percentages all season, so they are due to get some better results; a little "puck luck" as it were. Of course, being better than their current 3-9-4 record doesnt mean all that much. When those young players start to control play more consistently and the Panthers start getting adequate goaltending, they may turn the corner, but thats going to require patience and the expectations placed on this team dont necessarily allow for patience. Trouble is, when a general manager makes moves that appear to reveal a lack of patience, its fair to start wondering if the next one on the chopping block will be the GM. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Discount Cavaliers Jerseys . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (4) – He had a strong game Sunday; was very good in tight with big saves on Crosby, Malkin and Neal in-crease. 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A confident Chiudinelli and Lammer defeated veteran doubles player Zimonjic and young Krajinovic 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2.Jolyon Palmer will remain at Renault for the 2017 F1 season alongside Nico Hulkenberg with Kevin Magnussen set to move to Haas. The French squad had already signed Hulkenberg to lead the team next year, leaving current incumbents Palmer and Magnussen to battle it out for the second seat.Paddock rumour suggested Renault favoured retaining Magnussen, despite a late surge in form from Palmer, but the Danes expected move to Haas opened the door for Palmer to keep his seat for a second season. Im over the moon to be racing with Renault for a second season and I cant wait to reward the teams faith in me on track, said Palmer. Having worked out of Enstone since 2015 I can fully appreciate the development of the infrastructure this year. This means I share the excitement of the team looking to 2017 and our new car.For me, its been a steep learning curve driving in Formula 1 and I know that I am performing better than ever, and that theres still more to come. There is tremendous drive and enthusiasm in Enstone and Viry looking to next year and I am honoured to be part of this. 2017 F1 line-ups Mercedes Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Ferrari Sebastian Vettel Kimi Raikkonen Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo Max Verstappen Force India Sergio Perez Esteban Ocon Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz Daniil Kvyat Williams Valtteri Bottas Lance Stroll McLaren Fernando Alonso Stoffel Vandoorne Haas Romain Grosjean Kevin Magnussen Renault Nico Hulkenberg Jolyon Palmer Sauber TBC TBC Manor TBC TBC Palmer has scored one point in his 19 F1 races to date, with his solitary points finish coming in Malaysia.dddddddddddd We are delighted to retain Jolyon as our driver for the 2017 season. Jolyon has shown his hunger to develop with us as the team grows and we have been impressed with his increasingly strong performances on track as the season has progressed, said Renault chief Jerome Stoll.We are confident that the combination of Jolyon and Nico Hulkenberg offers a very promising driving force to meet our goals. Jolyon understands the teams spirit and motivates everyone he works with. The line-up of Jolyon and Nico harnesses the benefits of continuity and fresh blood.I am sure that having Nico as a team-mate will help push Jolyon to greater achievements. We thank Kevin Magnussen for his efforts in 2016 as he has done a great job for us this year. We wish him all the best for 2017 and beyond.2017 provisional schedule, test dates and driver line-upsCan Nico Rosberg clinch the title at Interlagos? 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