The Florida Panthers open the 2015-2016 NHL season with one goal in mind: making the playoffs. General Manager Dale Tallon’s five year rebuild plan, “The Blueprint,” ended with ‘close but no cigar’ with the team finishing 10th place in the Eastern Conference. Now, beyond the era of blueprints, Tallon is expecting to make the playoffs and his bosses may be holding him to that.
However, despite the focus on the youth of the Florida Panthers, they ice a roster over the league average in experience. Don’t believe me? Check the below infographic created by Jake Sharpless of Rukkus.com.
Jake Sharpless created this fan inspired NHL infographic for Rukkus
Not only in NHL Years of Experience do the Panthers fall on the better side of league average but in all categories except height + weight and it is not too crazy to think a year’s time is all that is needed to make up ground in those two categories.
Now, what do these numbers mean and do they play a part in on-ice success? Tallon hopes the nine total Stanley Cup rings provide enough familiarity with successful postseasons that should the Cats make the dance, they could do damage. Though, hoping doesn’t make it so.
What the numbers do show is that Tallon has stayed true to his Blueprint. The Florida Panthers were to be built from three main pillars: homegrown, talent, and winning mentality.
Homegrown
In the NHL, only Detroit, Los Angeles, and Ottawa have more homegrown players (or original draft selections) on this year’s roster than Florida. The adoption of the salary cap prompted a shift in team construction. Trades and free agent signings decrease yearly while an increase on drafting and prospect development permeates the league. Tallon seems to be a few steps ahead of this trend, debuting this philosophy in Chicago before applying it in Sunrise.
With such a disparity in homegrown players between Florida and the league- – 3 and change homegrown players — accepted logic dictates the Cats are right on track. Recent draft picks and franchise faces Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nick Bjugstad are graduates of one of the league’s best prospect pools. Once they finish maturing, Florida aims to build a reputation of playoff consistency in Detroit’s mold.
The Panthers may not reap the homegrown quality and quantity this season but there is no doubt that Tallon has followed through with his drafting initiative.
Talent
If we accept the logic that lasting Stanley Cup contenders build through the draft, it makes sense to also accept that, on average, the top talent of the draft lies closer to the top pick than the final pick. Florida enters the season with the 5th lowest average draft position in the league. Only Buffalo, Washington, Winnipeg, and Los Angeles own a better average. Three of those four teams are slated by media to make the postseason.
Years of rebuilding helped push the average closer to “1,” as Florida entered the draft lottery almost exclusively over the last 10 years. But it is worth noting that Florida has five non-homegrown players drafted in the first 60 selections of the draft. So what if one is Al Montoya.
The wealth of talent is one of the reasons Tallon didn’t feel compelled to overspend in the offseason for goals. Why spend money and assets acquiring a skill you spent the last five years drafting? It will only take the addition of time for the floodgates to open. The bigger concern may be keeping all the goal scorers under contract.
Winning Mentality
A winning mentality is much more than Stanley Cup wins. Yet the nine shiny Stanley Cup rings are a good barometer. Just like the saying “process before results,” the Panthers management is banking that importing winning will spawn a native mentality in the youngsters. You have to start somewhere, right?
The Panthers also boast an above average number of playoff game experience and NHL regular game experience.
If all goes to plan, the know-how of the veterans will be passed down to the rookies this postseason –sowing immediate and long term rewards. Fans often hear the cliches about staying “even keel” and “playing consistent.” How players approach the game and season comprise a critical aspect of that. Veterans in this situation become teachers, instructing younger players on routines, habits, and theories into making it through the year and maximizing your ability to perform throughout it. None of these instructors is more important to Jaromir Jagr. Jagr, one of the greatest scorers in league history, is also one of the game’s best teachers with emerging students like Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek.
En Route But Not There
Thanks to the infographic from Rukkus, we can see the progress made through Tallon’s Blueprint. Over the course of the Blueprint’s five years, Tallon has brought in the winning mentality, talent, and homegrown players he promised. So far the playoffs remain out of reach.
With the Blueprint era over, Tallon must make the most of his progress and take the next step. Any stagnation and the confidence in his planning could be lost. Lest he meet the same fate in Sunrise he did in Chicago, the Panthers better hope the intangible features of their roster bridge the gap this season.
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