Written by Chris Wassel | 27 March 2008

For a moment, just for a moment, we thought this year might be different.

For the first nine games of March, the Florida Panthers rolled off at least a point in all of them, including eight wins.

For once is seemed like it might not be too little too late.

Unfortunately, it was just the Panthers’ usual tease, something we’ve become accustomed to, yet still fell for. The Panthers loss to last-place-in-the-East-Tampa Bay ended all prayers of a playoff appearance for the first time since 2000.

Should we be proud of our boys for putting together such an impressive streak? Hell, in a city that is an embarrassment to the sports world, this seems pretty impressive. But let’s face it. Florida played seven games in a row on home ice. While the rest of the NHL was out jet-lagged from city to city, the Panthers enjoyed the comforts of home for more than two weeks. They didn’t just put together a nice winning streak; they SHOULD have put together a nice winning streak. Contenders or not, that was too easy. Not to mention five of eight wins came against teams that would be competitive in the NCAA Hockey tournament.

As much as we hate to admit it, the Panthers were just the beneficiary of a ludicrously easy schedule and nothing more. Sure this gives us some hope for the future, but how many times have we ended a season mouthing those exact words? Sure I’ll be excited when the puck drops again on opening night, but you can forget me buying into the hype that this is a playoff team unless the management does something it’s never done, and that’s spend some dough.

Vaclav Prospal, Doug Weight, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Markus Naslund, Marian Hossa, and Pavol Demitra are all unrestricted free agents, and most of them could end up in Panthers navy blue with the right offer. If one of these names, or one similar doesn’t end up on the roster next season, I’ll have no more hope that the Panthers will make the playoffs than I do right now.

Not making the playoffs in eight years is embarrassing. Not putting the best product you can out on the ice year after year to save some money is disgraceful. It’s time for the ownership to step up, and show the NHL that hockey exists in South Florida. If they don’t, and contraction talks ever pop back up, you can bet the Panthers will be the first to go.

Bring in a real coach and a real captain, and then maybe you’ll see some results on the ice.

Maybe you’ll see the Bank Atlantic Center filled to capacity night in and night out.

Maybe you’ll see hockey in South Florida in mid April, even when the regular season ends before that.

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