While Auston Matthews was graciously accepting waves of congratulations for breaking another record and Curtis McElhinney was breathing sweet relief Tuesday night at Air Canada Centre, the air was decidedly icy down the hall, in the Florida Panthers‘ room.
The reigning Atlantic Division champs — that fun-loving, joke-cracking, Kevin Spacey-sweatshirt-swapping, Fetty Wap–cranking group of Spring ’16 — are now down and all but mathematically out.
The Panthers bubbled with promise in October, coming off their first playoff appearance in four years and opening the bank to the most high-profile UFA backup, James Reimer, and two of the most in-demand free-agent defencemen on the market, Keith Yandle and Jason Demers.
We’d soon learn they’d also shrewdly signed the summer’s best bargain in Jonathan Marchessault ($750,000 for 29 goals and counting). Sunny times in Sunrise.
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The bizarre gauntlet the Cats have run in 2016-17 — one trapped with key injuries and hierarchy shuffles — is now ending in a miserable tumble down the standings, and likely more changes.
“Just because guys have contracts doesn’t mean they can’t get traded either,” threatened interim coach and general manager Tom Rowe, meeting with reporters prior to the 3-2 loss to Toronto.
“They’ve got to perform. Last night was unacceptable. We beat Chicago 7-0 playing good [Saturday], then we go into Buffalo [Monday] for a very, very big game and we come up with a 4-2 loss and they didn’t compete the way they were supposed to.
“At the end of the day, contracts are great. We did it for salary-cap reasons. But it doesn’t mean guys are going to retire here if they keep playing like they did.”
Instead of skating Tuesday — not so abnormal for a back-to-back — the players held a meeting without Rowe. Come puck drop, they came out flatter than a London apartment, registering a mere three easy shots on Leafs backup Curtis McElhinney in the first period.
Down 2-0, Florida flashed some will to come back, but it was a case of too little, too late. Toronto rookie Zach Hyman, once a Panthers prospect, would provide the shorthanded dagger. Florida is now 11 points and five teams away from the dance.
Yes, the game would bring another L — Florida’s 10th this month — and another injury.
Brian Boyle’s hip incidentally clipped goaltender Reimer’s head, and the players would point to Colton Sceviour’s fighting Boyle as a positive takeaway. Silver linings.
Rowe had no update on Reimer’s health post-game but hoped Roberto Luongo (also injured) would be ready for Thursday’s start in Montreal.
When the Panthers fired the affable Gerard Gallant, they were 11-10-1 and firmly in the hunt.
Under Rowe, they’ve gone 22-23-10. Management was a deadline buyer, picking up sniper Thomas Vanek from Detroit, but that’s turned into a reasonable bet lost.
Beat reporter Harvey Fialkov asked Rowe why the players weren’t prepared for Buffalo, the first of a four-game trip against divisional rivals.
“Maybe you should ask them,” Rowe replied.
We asked Reilly Smith why a players-only meeting was called.
“I have no comment on that,” Smith said.
First-year captain Derek MacKenzie addressed it vaguely.
“We’ve been pretty lucky to have guys like Jussi Jokinen, Shawn Thornton, Roberto and Jags. The list goes on of guys here that have been leaders and some young guys that will be leaders,” MacKenzie said.
“Certainly no one’s happy with where we were. Like we’ve done all year, we wanted to have a little talk to make sure we’re on the same page. Didn’t get the result, but I like to see us sticking together.”
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Not unlike the Kings or Stars, Jets or Devils, a sense of squandered opportunity surrounds the Panthers this month as the standings lose their elasticity.
“It hasn’t been a fun couple of days after the Buffalo game,” Rowe said. “We’ve had some discussions with some guys. It was a pretty cranky group.”
We’re not saying blow it up.
The talent is too deep, and the injuries cannot be discounted. Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, Jokinen, Aaron Ekblad, Alex Petrovic, Nick Bjugstad, Luongo and Denis Malgin will all have missed a minimum of 10 games this season, some as many as 50.
Some suspect all-star Vincent Trochek — whom Rowe called out for not shooting enough — is battling through an ailment, too.
Last week, Ekblad was rushed back too quickly from a concussion, a mistake Rowe owned up to.
“You could blame it on a lot of reasons this year. Obviously, guys are frustrated,” said Smith, crediting the Toronto loss on a poor mindset.
“It’s just being a professional, going out every night and be the best you can be and try to help this team win, so I don’t expect anything less out of this group.”
This group, already young, will look to lower its average age this summer, president Dale Tallon said during a recent radio appearance.
“We have good young players in our system. We’re gonna bring them up, give them a chance to play for us next year so they can all develop together. I’m certain that we’re gonna win for a long time,” Tallon told Miami’s 560 WQAM last week.
Questions swirl.
Will Rowe, 60, be replaced with a younger coach? Is this the last we see of Jagr, Vanek and Thornton — UFAs all — in Florida?
“It depends on them and their fitness and their willingness to play,” Tallon said of the older players.
“We haven’t made any decisions yet. We’re gonna evaluate the next 10 games very closely and see where we wanna go.”
